Stop, Pause and Rewind: Butterfly Effects
by xiaoj
Summary: (AU) Basically Yuuri and Viktor who has been married for 20 years woke up 1 day and discovered themselves back in the past type of story. Featuring Time Travel Victuuri, love-sick Viktor and slightly more confident Yuuri. This story is cross-post to AO3, with updates more regularly on the other side.
1. Chapter 1 - Back to the Past (Yuuri)

A/N: Chapter Revised on 27/3/17.

Warnings of OOCness, not good at writing them but cannot resist writing about them. OCs alert ahead.

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured in the story.

Chapter 1

Yuuri Katsuki woke to the sound of Phichit screaming into his ear that he was late for practice. For a while, he was feeling very much disoriented as it has been some years since his retirement from professional figure skating. While he had taken up co-coaching by assisting his husband of nearly twenty years, Viktor Nikiforov with the students under the Russian's guidance. It would not hurt a dime if he opt to sleep in instead of heading down to the rink.

However, once his mind registered the idea that it was actually Phichit that was yelling into his ears he sat up abruptly in bed. Making a random grab at the bedside table where his glasses should have rested upon, he found himself hitting wall instead.

'What the...?!' Opening his eyes, as he squinted to look he found himself staring into one of his many posters of Viktor Nikiforov instead. Now he was alarm, because he was quite certain all the posters featuring his husband was remove and kept safely away in storage by now.

So, it did not make any sense for him to see posters of Viktor being plastered all over the wall of their room. After all, what was the point when he had the man himself cuddling up to him all night? No, wait a minute... that voice just now belongs to Phichit. Shouldn't Phichit be in Thailand working on his latest ice show? How could he have been here?

Taking a deep breath, Yuuri slowly shift his eyes away from the posters and survey the surrounding instead.

'White ceilings... and the typical 2.4 inches tube form of the LED power-saving lights that decorated majority of the school dormitory building, heaps of clothes piling at the opposite end of the room waiting for someone to come by and collect them for laundry; and an incredibly young-looking Phichit Chulanont.' The moment Yuuri's eyes landed upon his young room-mate, he could not helped but let out a yelp in response.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Yuuri yelped as he jump out of bed, looking deathly pale as though he had seen a ghost. The sight of his young friend was enough to send Yuuri's mind into an overload state of frenzy nerves, his first and utmost thought was that this was a dream. Because, time-travel is unrealistic so it couldn't be happening at all.

"A dream... this is a dream. No need to worry, just go back to sleep and it will all be fine later." Yuuri was mumbling to himself under his breath as he started inching back towards the bed again.

"Yuuri...? Are you okay? You are looking quite pale..." Phichit asked in concern, now that he had noticed his friend's paleness and the incoherent mumblings that he finds it hard to catch wind of.

Yuuri ignored Phichit's words of concern ringing next to his ears, he was trying to focus on the idea of falling back asleep.

"Yuuri... are you alright? Are you having a panic attack? Is this about the impending qualifying tournament?" Phichit frowned, as he ventured forward trying to help calm his friend down only to find himself being push away.

"NO! Don't Touch Me!" Yuuri snapped, but still the harm has been done. Phichit had already touched him once, and with that Yuuri could no longer fool himself into thinking that this whole situation is merely just a dream. Like it or not, he was apparently back in time and back in his old dorm room while he was still studying in Detroit.

Yuuri cringe when he realized what he had done, but he couldn't help it. His nerves were acting up due to the being back in the past situation that his logic had all but forsaken him for now. Until his logical sense of mind managed to grasp control of his mental state, he cannot handle speaking to anyone without sounding upset or snappy. Hell, he did not even had it in him to apologize to Phichit now. His mind and emotions were all over the place, part of him wants to bawl while the other part of him just want to shut everything out by hiding himself under his blankets and disappear from everyone's sight.

Phichit takes a deep breath and tell himself not to take it to heart, Yuuri was obviously not in his usual state of mind. And so after allowing a minute of silence to calm himself down, Phichit spoke up again. "Yuuri, do you need some time alone to work things out? Shall I tell Ciao Ciao that you are not coming in for practice today?"

"..." Yuuri did not respond, he was still stuck in his mind trying to comprehend this entire situation. Since Yuuri failed to respond, Phichit ended up not only informing Celestino that Yuuri was in no condition to practice for the day. He had also taken the initiative to apply leave of absence for Yuuri's classes for the day, and later proceeds on to collect notes for Yuuri's behalf despite the fact that he was in a totally different course of study from Yuuri.

The only reason he was even allowed to become Yuuri's room-mate was mainly because they are both members of the Detroit Skating Club which Celestino was in charge of coaching. That, and Celestino had managed to pull some strings for Phichit by cashing in on some favors which the dorm manager owe him apparently.

The first day that Yuuri realized he was in the past, he spend the day alternating between hysterics and denial. It was only the second day did he finally managed to somehow pull himself together and started to re-establish communications with Phichit and Celestino. While he was not in the mood to skate, he knew he at least had to make a re-appearance at the rink even if it was just to set Celestino's mind at ease.

Although, Yuuri had ponder over the idea of withdrawing from the competition as well but in the end he decided against it. After all, how could he gave up his only possible chance to meet Viktor in person?! In the end, the thought of meeting Viktor again becomes his motivating factor to get himself to the rink for practice every night to prevent himself from getting rusty. Which Yuuri supposed he is rusty in his skating to a certain extent, since it has been ages since he took to the ice mentally if not physically.

"So Yuuri... are you planning on practicing at night instead of joining us for the morning practice again?" Phichit asked, on the third morning after Yuuri's sudden emotional meltdown.

"Yes...I don't really want to mingle around with people now. And I have some things that I wanted to do this morning." Yuuri responded, trying his best to smile only to end up grimacing instead.

"Alright... I'll let Celestino knows to check on your routine tonight...Do you need me to pick up dinner for you later?" Phichit sighs, while he missed having his friend around for morning practice... he also knows not to push Yuuri.

"Sure... I shall leave the menu up to your decision." Yuuri commented half-heartedly, his mind counting down the seconds until he could be alone again.

Once Phichit left the room, Yuuri felt his forced smile disappearing immediately. Honestly, he don't feel like doing anything at all... but he also knew denial would not solve anything. It certainly would not bring his husband back to him, seeing as he is unable to find his Viktor at this point of time... at the very least, he could still focus his attention on the Viktor of this time period, right?

With that thought in mind, Yuuri settled himself in front of his study desk where his laptop sat upon.

Turning on the power switch of the laptop, Yuuri shifted his attention to his desk calendar while waiting for the laptop to run its setup. It takes some time for the laptop to load the desktop screen, as this particular laptop runs on an older system thus the slow loading speed.

25th September 2015 is the date, and it has been three days since his hysterical meltdown in front of Phichit. Based on what his younger self had written on the calendar, Viktor had gotten assigned with the Skate Canada and Cup of China for this year's GPF series qualifying tournament. Whereas he had gotten Skate America and the NHK Trophy, if his memory serves him correctly.

Skate America is in two weeks' time, so if he decided to not withdraw from the competition... he only have fourteen days to re-learn his routine for the Short Program and Free Skate. That would not be a problem if he can managed to recall his program routines, common sense tell him that there would not be any problems for him to do so as there is only one quad arrangement which is a quad toe-loop for his free skate that Celestino had choreograph for him.

Yuuri was jolt out from his thoughts when his laptop had finished loading, and a 'ding' sound notified him of a new mail coming in.

Still half-distracted, he loaded his email account without hesitation. The moment the page completed loading, he realized that he had just receive an email notification from YouTube on his subscription of Viktor's official channel alerting him to the fact that there will be a live streaming of a press conference about a change in Viktor Nikiforov's theme for the season.

'Huh? A theme change with his first qualifying tournament only one week away?' Yuuri had to admit this was rare indeed, but he was more surprised by the fact that ISU actually approved the change in theme this late in time.

Hurriedly, Yuuri paused in his task of sorting through his neglected email account and decided that it might be best for him to catch the live stream of the press conference now and not to wait for a later release that comes with English subtitles. After all, you don't spend twenty years living with Viktor Nikiforov and not pick up the language Russian.

Yuuri make it a point not to drink or eat anything while watching the press conference, he knew by now any attempts at eating or drinking while Viktor is involve in speaking would end up with him choking due to shock and surprise. So when Viktor announced that he has decided to do a change on his performance theme for the season, Yuuri was completely ready for it.

"Okay... so Viktor is changing his theme for the season, despite being a little sudden but it's not really that much of a big deal since Viktor lives for surprising the audiences. " Yuuri tried to keep himself from over-reacting at the sheer possibility that Viktor might be in the same situation as him.

It was just at this particular time that Yuuri received a twitter and instagram notification that Viktor Nikiforov had followed him. For a while, he stared uncomprehending at his phone thinking it a hallucination but once he realize that the notification is not vanishing... he sighed and drop a friend requests to Viktor Nikiforov's Facebook account instead. If he was uncertain of Viktor's reason for changing his theme for the season before, he wasn't anymore. His instagram account is private, and while the twitter account Viktor followed him on was his official account ... it make no sense for the Russian to follow his private instagram account unless the man knows for certain it was him that own that instagram account. After all, his current profile picture for his instagram is a bowl of pork cutlet rice.

Friend Request Message to ViktorN: I assume you are in the same boat as me, we need to talk. Call me on Facebook ASAP.

Less than a minute after sending the requests, his friend requests was accept and Viktor replied to his message soon after.

To KatsudonYuuri: Will call you after the press conference, *insert wink emoji*

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 24/2/17.

Date edited: 27/3/17.


	2. Chapter 2 - Back to the Past (Viktor)

A/N: Chapter Revised on 27/3/17.

Warnings of OOCness, not good at writing them but cannot resist writing about them. OCs alert ahead.

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured in the story.

Chapter 2

The moment Viktor Nikiforov woke up in bed, he knew something was amiss. Mentally, he counted to ten before popping his eyes open and took in his surrounding in silence. The sight that greeted him was not unknown, it was after all a room that he was familiar with. His bedroom in his apartment unit back in Saint Petersburg in fact.

Still, despite the familiarity that his bedroom provided him with - Viktor knew what was different immediately. No, it was not his husband's absence that clued him in on the little detail. It was, however, the lack of the homely feeling that welcomes him when he was with Yuuri that finally causes him to cocoon himself back into his blanket bundle and wept pitifully. If it wasn't for Makkachin daily walk, Viktor could practically spend his whole day wallowing in sadness and pining away for his missing husband.

As much as Viktor hated to admit it, life without Yuuri was absolutely horrible. He found his mind wrapped up in emotional turmoil. Yuuri was his life energy in an essence, without Yuuri around - everything was dull and plain.

Before he knew it, days has already passes him by in a flash of light and yet his mind failed to register anything. It actually took his coach Yakov a whole of three days to get him dressed presentable enough to head out from his apartment through the forceful means by dragging him down to the rink personally. Even then, he was behaving like a zombie, practically a living dead if Mila's words is anything to go by.

"OI, I DON'T KNOW WHAT KIND OF SHIT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH BUT PLEASE GET YOURSELF FIXED BEFORE THE GRAND PRIX FINALS QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT COMES BY." It took the blond-haired green-eyed Russian Punk, who is unafraid to speak his mind snarling and hissing to pull him out from his living dead like mannerism.

For one Yuri Plisetsky, he was entirely caught off-guard by Viktor's antic. One moment, the silver-haired Russian Legendary skater was behaving like a living dead and the next the former seem to have snap out from whichever hell it was tormenting the former and had him in a very tight embrace that creeps the hell out of him.

"WHAT THE HELL... OLD MAN, YOU LET ME GO THIS INSTANCE. AND STOP HUGGING ME, ITS' DISGUSTING!" Yuri protested vehemently, as he struggled to wriggle out from Viktor's arm. His face an unnatural shade of red, eyes glaring with so much venom that if looks could kill - the Russian skater would have been six feet under by now.

'Oh...Yurio, you had no idea how much I'd missed your yelling...' Viktor was thinking inwardly to himself as he hugged the protesting young blond skater in front of him.

Somehow finding odd comforts in the way Yuri Plisetsky responded to his hugs, Viktor finally managed to put himself together. Even if he had to throw himself immensely into training and completely disregarding the public to do so, it is hard but eventually he managed. He tried not to think about his beloved Yuuri and forced himself to focus on the impending qualifying tournaments instead.

That was how he managed to get by during the days, and only at nights when he is alone at his apartment unit with no one but Makkachin for comfort did he finally allowed himself to fall apart. There are a couple of days whereby he just felt so alone that he actually drag an unwilling Yurio screaming and yelling back into his apartment unit to stay the night. Of course, the blond had to take the couch for now since he doesn't have any furnished room for the young blond in his apartment unit as of current.

Spending some evenings with Yurio hanging around him helps Viktor deal with the loss of his husband's presence over the days since his time-traveling ordeal. Slowly but gradually, he was coming back out from his depressive state but he still suffers from his Yuuri's withdrawal symptoms. That withdrawal symptom faded somewhat when he chanced upon the YouTube channel of Nishigori Yuuko, one evening while browsing on the website for Yuuri's past videos. He recalled having seen a few from Yuuri's Junior Days before, but wasn't certain of the channel's name.

It was one week before the first qualifying tournaments took place that he came to an utter realization that he had no idea what was his decided theme for this season. Luckily, his forgetfulness was nothing unusual to his fellow rink-mates though it did looks kind of funny to Georgi that he needed a reminder of his own selected theme for the season.

He mull over the selected theme for a day, before approaching Yakov with the announcement that he needs to change his theme and music for his short program. The free skate Viktor would keep it as it is though, since he was more than familiar with the routine for his free skate music 'Aria - Stay Close to Me'. Granted, he might have to tweak the arrangement a bit before he could make it work for his new theme in mind. Still, it was better than changing everything and giving Yakov a heart attack in the process.

The costume could stay, as there is simply not enough time to revise everything about his performances. It took a few lectures from Yakov before he finally managed to get the coach to agree to his impromptu change of theme. He had no idea how Yakov managed it, but three days later his change in theme for the season was confirm and a press conference was held by Yakov to officially announce this little issue to the public and the media.

With the press conference called and every detail clarified and straighten out, Viktor had no longer any chance to mope around. Still he yearn for Yuuri, but seeing as he had no idea how to contact the latter without giving the other skater a heart attack... since he was not certain whether Yuuri was in the same situation as him. Seeing as he was not willing to send the Japanese skater into a terrible nervous breakdown, Viktor had to resort to the means of using social media to satisfy his crave for his beloved Yuuri. While he understand that Yuuri is not an active user of social media apps, it did not deters him from following his beloved on the instagram and twitter.

Aside from Yuuri, he had also taken to follow the instagram account of one Phichit Chulanont, a fellow Thai skater who is a rink-mate of Yuuri's and room-mate in Detroit at this point of time.

Nothing could have ready him for the surprise of seeing a Facebook notification on his mobile, informing him of a friend requests coming from his beloved Yuuri going by the profile name of KatsudonYuuri that follows by a private message that reads as follows.

Friend Request Message to ViktorN: I assume you are in the same boat as me, we need to talk. Call me on Facebook ASAP.

Viktor gaped shell-shocked at the message content for some time, the message content replaying itself in his mind repeatedly. 'Could this mean that Yuuri's also back in time?' Viktor found himself questioning, but he couldn't tell for sure what would have spur his usually apprehensive husband to take the initiative at contacting him. Was it something he had done that tips Yuuri off? It cannot be the press conference held to announce his change of theme for the season though, so it is something else. What did he do? Viktor found it in him to question his own self.

A quick glance at his idling application on his phone suddenly had him slapping his hand to his head in realization, he followed Yuuri's instagram! That's it, he had forgotten that Yuuri's instagram account was on private setting and so unless he knew for sure that Yuuri_K with the profile picture of a bowl of pork cutlet rice is the very same Yuuri Katsuki who is a fellow figure skater with JSF - it make no sense for him to follow Yuuri_K on instagram.

"Stupid me..." Viktor mumbled incoherently to himself, as he hurried to accept Yuuri's Facebook friend requests and reply with a message of his own that reads the following.

To KatsudonYuuri: Will call you after the press conference, *insert wink emoji*

Once Yakov declared the press conference to a close, Viktor had all but leap out from his seat heading for the direction where the bathrooms are. He left Yakov behind to deal with the press who seems to have more questions for him while he ducks into the nearest vacant cubicle in the public bathroom over at his home rink. He needs to call Yuuri right away before the thought completely slips his mind.

Taking a deep breath, Viktor found his way to KatsudonYuuri Facebook page and click on the 'Call Now' button that appears as he scrolled through the page on his Facebook App that is running on his phone.

For a while, he thought he could have keep it together but upon the first sound of Yuuri's voice he found his own voice cracking up in a hitch before all his composure broke away and left him in pieces.

"... Viktor... don't cry, you are not alone. Although I am not there with you now but I'm always here a phone call away when you need me. And here I thought I was the one with meltdown problems." There was a mild teasing tone as Yuuri greeted him back in return.

There was a bit of silence, as Viktor is still struggling to get his emotions back under control, and that was when Yuuri's dry comment sounded next to his ear. "Alright, at least that solved the mystery behind your sudden theme change for the season. I seriously thought the worst when I heard the announcement that you'd change your theme to love for this season."

"I know... I'm sorry, I guess I'm just overwhelmed? But you're right, I changed my theme because I could not find it in me to skate to the original theme. Loneliness just don't works with my current mental state, and heartbreak doesn't seems all that right either so I decided on the love theme instead." Thankfully, his wits did not leave him entirely and so after a few minutes of silence - Viktor managed to put his broken self back together again.

"Well, I don't blame you for being overwhelmed. I was quite overwhelmed myself, I think I missed a few days of my classes because I did not have it in mind to face people just yet. Luckily though, I'm prone to mental meltdown from time to time so both Phichit and Celestino has an idea what to do with my sudden absence from practice. As for the school side, nothing an official psychiatrist written support document couldn't fix. I'll just have to sacrifice more of my weekend time for replacement classes after I went back to resume my usual class attendance. While on the topic, please try to avoid giving Yakov a heart attack - would you? If you want to make any changes to your exhibition routine, please do so now and not sprang it upon Yakov on a last-minute situation. The man is not young anymore, he's approaching seventy?" Yuuri asked, his voice soft and comforting to Viktor's ears.

"Well... since you ask so nicely...and yes, Yakov is approaching his seventies." Viktor allowed his voice to fade off in a playful manner.

Maybe it was the realization that he was not the only one being thrown back in time that ease his mind or something, but overall it seems like the weight from Viktor's shoulders has been remove and he actually finds it in him to regain his usual charisma.

"Seriously though Viktor, I know you are no longer used to separation between us but at this moment of time, we are unable to stay together. Qualifying tournaments for Sochi Grand Prix Finals are coming up, and we both need to focus on training. Moreover, I still have school work to focus upon and I'm sure you are also having your fair share of things that needed your attention." Yuuri sighed aloud, his voice sounding equally relieved.

"But Yuuri... you know I'll miss you badly." Viktor could not helped but wail in response, if it was up to him he would skip his training and board a plane bound for Detroit immediately.

"I know, and like I say I also miss you. Still, you are not going to throw everything aside and come over to Detroit. I know you want to, but I really think you should focus on your training. We can meet at Sochi anyway..."

"But that's still months away! I want to see you now!" Viktor complained, he knew he sounded desperate but he cannot helped it. The past week or was it weeks(?) without Yuuri was terrible, before he finally had it in him to piece himself back together and start preparing for the GPF – his apartment unit practically resembles a dump. That was exactly how lost he had felt, when he found himself back in the past.

"... Tell you what, we will video-call one another on SKYPE later. Or if you prefer to face-time call, I can also accommodate you on that option. I have a lecture coming up in an hour's time, so I really need to end this call about now." Yuuri urged, and Viktor understood that he needs to end the call now anyway.

Yakov is practically hammering outside the cubicle now, if he still dally any longer - he would not put it past his coach to confiscate his phone for the next two weeks to come. Therefore, Viktor eventually caved as he do not wish to throw away his chance at the opportunity to face-time Yuuri later on in the day.

"Really? We can still chat later?" Before ending the call, Viktor could not help but checked.

"Yes, I promised. Now go back to Yakov from wherever you are..." Though Viktor could not see Yuuri now, but he almost could imagine Yuuri's look from the hints of fond exasperation in Yuuri's voice as the latter responded to his childish behavior.

By the time Viktor removed himself from the cubicle, his coach was very much red in the face with annoyance at its peak level. With his mind still up in the clouds due to his chat with Yuuri, Viktor was very much ignoring Yakov's ranting from behind him. Apparently, this little detail fail to slip from Yakov's attention and so Viktor pretty much had to endure a harsh training regimen after the press had been placate.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 26/2/17

Date edited: 28/3/17


	3. Chapter 3

Due to the time difference between Detroit and Saint Petersburg, with Detroit being eight hours approximately behind – it is incredibly hard to find a time for their agreed skype session. Still, Yuuri managed to work it out. Knowing for a fact that Viktor unlike him is an early riser, Yuuri had taken this little detail into account and proceed to arrange their first skype session at 9pm for him in the evening while it is about 5am in the morning for Viktor, one day ahead.

"Yuuri~~~~ You called!" Almost immediately, the skype request was accepted and soon Yuuri found himself staring at the sight of a hyperactive Viktor Nikiforov through the use of the web cam.

"Of course I did, I promise you – didn't I?" Yuuri responded, rather dryly. He could never understand where Viktor's energy originates from, the ability to be so hyper in the early morning is quite a mysterious feat.

"Tell me your assignment for the Grand Prix Series, please?!" Viktor's request was not exactly unexpected on Yuuri's part, but it kind of irk him to a certain extent.

"…It's listed on the ISU website." Yuuri stated, matter-of-factly.

"I know its' listed on the ISU website, but the list is too long… you knows that I don't really have the patience for it. So please tell me?" Viktor responded, pulling on his best puppy eyes look while he did so.

"…Skate America and NHK Trophy." Eventually, Yuuri caved and gave in to those irresistible puppy eyes of Viktor's. A flush starting to creep up his cheeks as the thought of 'how cute Viktor looks with those puppy eyes' flashes through his mind.

"Can I also have your training schedule? Ah… please also send me your class work schedule." Viktor added after a moment of delay.

"Huh? What do you need them for?" Now Yuuri was absolutely bewildered, he could understand the assignments portion but why would Viktor be requesting his training and class schedules as well?

"Don't you need help modifying your short program and free skate routine?" Viktor asked back in return, his expression blank and unreadable.

"… I have Celestino to assist me on it." Yuuri answered carefully.

"Don't you wish to make the podium?" Viktor then asked, his expression one of seriousness now.

"… Viktor, be realistic. I only have fourteen days to work them out in time for Skate America… and I have not enough time to condition my body to its' peak condition at this point of time. It is not advisable to level up the jumps difficultly for both my SP and FS for Skate America, but don't worry I have confidence that by the time NHK Trophy came around, I should be able to make the podium." Yuuri sighed aloud as he tried to convince Viktor to leave this issue alone, he knew Viktor has high expectation for him but it still did not change the fact that Viktor is currently still not his coach.

"Oh… you are certain that you don't need my help for the modification to your programs?" Viktor asked, looking quite disappointed by Yuuri's words.

"No… at least not for Skate America. Instead, I want you to focus on yourself. Skate Canada is coming up in a few days time for you. Are you well prepared for it? " Yuuri hurried to change the subject, not wanting the risk of having Phichit coming in and catching him in the act of conversing with Viktor Nikiforov yet.

"Of course I am prepared for it! I am more concern for your progress, than I am for my own." Viktor replied, matter-of-factly.

"Its' okay. No need to fret so much about my programs, Celestino's choreography is not really that hard to master. " Yuuri responded with a neutral tone.

"That's true, his choreography never did manage to bring out your best." Viktor commented, after a moment of silent contemplation.

"He's still my coach, and … I only have myself to blame for the mediocre routines." Yuuri said, after a moment of silence.

A quick look at the time reflected on his laptop screen informed Yuuri that it is almost time for Phichit's return to the dorm, and Viktor's own morning practice session at the rink. Therefore, Yuuri took the initiative to end the skype session knowing that if it is being left up to Viktor – the session will never cease.

Eventually, Yuuri did send Viktor a copy of his practice schedule as well as his class work schedule as requested by the former. Though, he had no idea what Viktor intended to do with them…

"Yuuri, guess what?!" It was half past nine in the evening when Phichit burst into their dorm room in excitement.

"What?" Yuuri decided to go along with Phichit's excitement, feigned interest as he questioned.

"Your idol – Viktor Nikiforov is following my instagram account! He'd just liked a video that I posted earlier this afternoon!" Phichit gushes out excitedly as he informed Yuuri of the fact.

"…Okay, and can I asked what video was the post about?" Yuuri felt his eyebrow twitching, somehow he had an idea that whichever video that Phichit had posted, it must have involved him or mentioned him at some point of time.

"Erm… I may or may not have posted a sneak peak of your SP on the instagram this afternoon." Phichit responded, rather meekly and sheepishly.

"Phichit, you are going to be the death of me one of these days…" Yuuri while annoyed by Phichit's tendency to post videos of him practicing without his knowledge, gaining unwanted attention to himself… at least, this time around its' merely a sneak peak and not the whole SP.

"Sorry?" Phichit apologized almost immediately upon the slightly peeved look directed his way by Yuuri.

Thankfully, Yuuri was quite accustomed to Phichit's tendency to post everything on the social media by now to be really angered by the latter actions. Therefore, after several minutes of silent treatment Yuuri sighed as he forgave the Thai skater.

"Forget it Phichit, what was it that you want to ask just now?" Yuuri decided to drop the issue of the sneak peak video for now.

"Aa… do you know why that Viktor Nikiforov is suddenly following my instagram?" Phichit asked, a look of curiosity and awe on his face as he directed the question towards Yuuri.

"… No idea, who knows what he's thinking? Maybe, one of the post that Christophe Giacometti reposted from your account caught his attention and having checked your account out, he decided to follow you directly? " Yuuri responded, throwing out the first plausible reason that he could think of towards Phichit's direction. There was no way that Yuuri is going to admit that the reason behind Viktor following Phichit's instagram was merely due to the fact that he doesn't updated his own.

The next morning, Yuuri started re-joining Phichit and Celestino at the rink for morning practices. Now that he was affirmed in his decision to continue in the competition, and his aim of making it into the Sochi GPF – Yuuri was not going to skip morning practice any longer. While he was more than a little rusty on the routines of both his SP and FS, he was thankful for the fact that Phichit had a video of both the programs from one of his practice session from one month ago. He had studied the two videos repeatedly last night, after ending his skype session with Viktor and decided to speak with Celestino on the few modifications that he intended to make to the programs.

"Good morning, Ciao Ciao! Look who's back for morning practice!" Phichit greeted cheerfully upon arrival at the home rink of the Detroit Skating Club.

"Morning Phichit, and nice to see you back in action as well Yuuri." Celestino smile brightly as he greeted both Phichit and Yuuri.

"R…Right, I… I'm sorry that I've skipped out on the morning practice over the last few days." Yuuri stuttered for a bit before finally apologizing to Celestino in a haste like manner.

"Nah… its' fine. Phichit has told me about your meltdown, you have always had a problem with nerves… and with Skate America coming up soon. I was kind of expecting a meltdown from you already, granted I wasn't exactly prepared for you to lose it so early." Celestino waved off Yuuri's apology, before a stern expression was plastered back on his face.

"Can I have your words that you would not freaked out and skipped practices again?"

"Y…Yes." Yuuri swallowed, not about to correct Celestino's assumption of his meltdown having to do with the impending Skate America.

"Alright then, now that we are clear on the issue… please proceed on to put on your skates. We will officially start the practice in ten minutes time." Celestino announced then.

Practice started and ended uneventfully, Yuuri run through both his SP and FS routines twice without too much error before approaching Celestino about making a change in the sequence of the routine arrangement.

"You want to change the sequence?" Celestino was indeed surprised by Yuuri's request, as it was not Yuuri's nature to bring up such issues to him directly.

"Erm… yes, I thought that it might be better to switch the combination spin sequence to the end of the program instead of putting it at the start. Also, I would like to switch the double toe-loop in the SP with a triple toe-loop." Yuuri said, keeping his wavering courage to its' minimum as he stared Celestino straight in the eye.

"Hm..m… I agreed that a triple would look better on the TES than a double, but my main question is are you able to pull it off?" Celestino asked, the reason why he had lowered the first jump from a triple to a double initially was due to Yuuri's nerves acting up during competition.

"I'm sure I can handle it." Yuuri responded, his tone firm with certainty.

"Alright, we will go with a triple toe-loop then. Now, go through your SP one more time with the adjustments and we shall see how it goes. And then we will proceed to polish up your FS routine as well, if we have the time. Otherwise, we will work on the FS tomorrow morning instead."

Morning practice was harsh on Yuuri, despite his high stamina level. However, he knew it cannot be helped because this is still in the midst of the competition season and his previous skips out on practice had comes to bite him in the ass. By the time he made it in time to his first class of the day, his legs are screaming in exhaustion.

"Katsuki, I see that you finally had it in you to come in for class." The lecturer commented rather dryly as Yuuri stepped into the classroom.

"…" Yuuri remained silent, he already knew by now his lecturer for this particular semester had a sarcastic streak so it would be best not to talk back.

"Seeing as you weren't here the last few days, your final year project group-mates shall be determined by me. Shinomiya Haruka, Shinomiya Kanade and Kawada Yuki would be your group members for the final year project. Right, and the choice has been taken out from your group's hand as well. It shall be a musical production, and please try to make it a little more interesting than the stereo-type." The lecturer had all but announced.

Slowly, but carefully Yuuri shifted his glance to the three students mentioned by the lecturer and nearly groaned aloud. Great, just great… the infamous Shinomiya siblings and the aloof ice-princess of the class. The universe hates him, Yuuri was certain of it now. Why else would his group-members changed, he was more than certain that the other time around his group-mates were most definitely not these three.

"Right, Katsuki-san… I guess, there's no time like the present to start planning for the project? After all, we do have a musical production to start working on." In the end, it was Shinomiya Haruka that broke the silence.

"Shall we move the discussion to the back of the room?" Yuuri sighed and resigned himself to the fact that he was stuck with these trio and a ridiculously troublesome project for the next six months to come.

Shinomiya Haruka and Shinomiya Kanade was no doubt the top two popular guys in his class, they were after all the sons of a famous music composer and a movie director back in Japan. In their free time, they had both taken up part-time jobs of modeling in Detroit so it really is not a wonder for them to have a fan-club within the school. On the other hand, Kawada Yuki is famous for her aloof personality and her chain of award winning script that had either being adapted into musical or movies since her junior years in high school. Whereas Yuuri is … well Yuuri, top figure skater recognized by the JSF. Still, his popularity level as compared to the other members of his group is very much minimal.

However, due to his group members' personal charisma – it is no doubt that people are looking forward to their musical production coming up before official graduation. Therefore, it is no wonder for Yuuri to find the entire project work an extra stress factor. It is, often, at this stage that he questioned his initial decision to choose a degree in the fields of performing arts. Nonetheless, it was too late to switch course of study and he has no other options other than to continue moving forward.

~ To be Continue…~

Date completed: 27/2/17

Date edited: 28/2/17


	4. Chapter 4

To Viktor (Message send: 6.45pm, US - Michigan, Detroit Time):  
Sorry, got to cancel scheduled skype session. Need to work on FYP.

To Yuuri (Message send: 4.05am, Russia - Saint Petersburg):  
! No~~~~ (ToT) *Sigh* Alright, but what is FYP?

To Viktor (Message send: 8.10pm, US - Michigan, Detroit):  
Final Year Project, need to discuss details for it with group members so had to cancel the scheduled skype session. Will update you when we can skype after group meeting with project mates.

To Yuuri (Message send: 4.12am, Russia – Saint Petersburg):  
Noted... :-(

To Yuuri (Message send: 4.15am, Russia - Saint Petersburg):  
I get that we can't skype, but can we still text each other? *puppy eyes*

To Viktor (Message send: 8.20pm, US - Michigan, Detroit):  
Fine, you can text me but No Spamming. Thank You. :-)

Viktor Nikiforov sighed as he put aside his phone for the moment, and buried his nose into the fur of his poodle – Makkachin. He had been looking forward so much to the scheduled skype session with Yuuri that he actually make it a point to wake himself up by 4 am so he could have more time conversing with Yuuri. Now though, it seems like he had woken too early and have absolutely nothing he could do. It was much too early to go down to the rink, and there's nothing much available on the TV that could entertain him either.

"Makkachin… what should I do now?" Viktor asked, looking earnestly at his pet poodle despite knowing for a fact that Makkachin is incapable of answering him.

Makkachin merely open one of her eye lazily, letting out a small whine before burying her head back onto her front paws as she goes back to sleep. 4 am is too early for the poodle to be awake and active, thus it remove the task of taking Makkachin out for a walk from Viktor's list of things to do as well.

"Oh well… I supposed its' back to bed for a nap then." Viktor sighed before settling himself back onto the bed. His initial intention was merely to nap for an hour or so, but he ended up sleeping through his usual alarm and woke to the sound of his phone ringing incessantly.

Taking a peek at his caller ID, as expected it was Yakov calling. Most likely, the man was irate by his being late for practice again.

"Yes, Yakov… I know… I'm on my way out as it is." Viktor lied convincingly through his teeth, as he stumbled out of bed heading for the bathroom. He then proceed to put his phone onto speaker mode allowing his coach to yell at him out of frustration as he swiftly went through his morning routine, dressing up for his day, petting Makkachin affectionately on her head before proceeding to grab his apartment keys and cut off the call from his side.

"Makkachin, please do behave yourself when I'm off for training. You can do that for me right?" Viktor hug the poodle as he finished lacing up his sneakers, and preparing to leave the apartment unit.

Makkachin barked twice in acknowledgement, and another time when Viktor opens the apartment unit's door. Once Viktor stepped out from the apartment unit, he proceeded on to take the stairs down to the guard's office instead of waiting for the elevator since he was already running late to practice. Dropping his apartment unit keys at the guard's office, he informed the guard that there would be someone coming by later to do his house-cleaning and to take care of his pet poodle so that the guard would not need to call him up mid-practice to verify the situation.

On his way over to his home rink in Saint Petersburg, Viktor took out his phone and snapped a picture of the scenic view of the sun rising over the horizon as he passes by the beach and send it over to Yuuri on an impulse. To which, Yuuri responded in kind by sending him a night-view of Detroit, taken obviously from the dormitory room's window.

"VITYA! Stop Hovering Outside And Get Your Ass In Here Now!" Yakov Feltsman, the infamous coach of Viktor Nikiforov yelled as soon as he caught sight of the late comer from the corner of his eyes.

"Okay...okay, I'm coming in already... You can stop yelling already." Viktor tried to calm his irate coach down, only to receive more yelling and scolding from the elder man. Seeing as his calming tactics fail to work on his coach, Viktor opted to tune the man out instead. How his coach could handle yelling at practically every competitive skaters under guidance and still not ruin the vocal chords is really a mystery.

"So how's it going for your program, kiddo?" Viktor inquired, with a cheerful grin plastered on his face as he ruffled the teen's hair while he passes by the rink where the blond was practicing as he head for the lockers' room direction.

"Che, how hard would it be with a program without any quads. Of course, I have no problem with it. And how many times must I tell you not to call me KIDDO?!" Yuri Plisetsky muttered aloud placing emphasis at the word 'kiddo', sounding sullen before turning away from Viktor with a huff. The sheer feel of someone ruffling his hair caused the blond teen to send a glare of annoyance towards the silver-haired skater in reaction.

"But you're a kid, aren't you? Be good and listen to Yakov, if you managed to win gold this time around. I'll choreograph your senior debut program for you." Viktor said before disappearing down the hallway into the lockers' room, in order to exchange his current sneakers for his pair of skates.

While lacing up his skates, Viktor made it a point to put a note in his phone's memo reminding himself to assign 'On Love: AGAPE' to Yurio when the time comes. Recently, he had made it a point to address Yuri Plisetsky as Kiddo much to the younger skater's aggravation. However, it cannot be helped as Viktor was simply too used to addressing Yuri as 'Yurio' so in order not to slip up in front of the blond - he had to come up with other nicknames for the young skater and thus, the nickname 'Kiddo' was born.

Meanwhile, Yuri Plisetsky was left staring at the back of Viktor Nikiforov with his mouth agape. It took a tease from Mila Babicheva to snap him out of his stunned-like manner, before turning his attention back to the practice inwardly vowing to win gold for his last Junior Grand Prix Finals so that he could make Viktor choreograph his senior debut programs.

Viktor practice his short program routine over and over again, wanting to train up his muscle memory. Due to his average stamina level, he was unable to keep going like Yuuri tends to do and thus had to stop every fifteen minutes for a short break to rest and recover before continuing on with his training regime. Yakov only drop by every ten minutes or so to check on his progress, for that Viktor was thankful. Because the lack of Yakov's supervision means that he could afford to goof off in between his practice and breaks.

For the better part of the morning, Viktor spend his breaks in between practices to stalk the instagram account of Yuuri's room-mate – Phichit Chulanout. Due to Yuuri's request for him to be discreet in his social activities, Viktor made it a point to cut down on the number of likes he was to give to Phichit's post that involves Yuuri in one way or another. Since Viktor is not allowed to Spam Phichit's instagram account with notification of likes, he ended up nicking several good shots of Yuuri's solo picture from the Thai skater instagram instead. Majority of these photos are taken without Yuuri's awareness, meaning snapshots – there was one which consists of Yuuri playing the flute. Viktor resolved to find some time inquiring on Yuuri's musical talents, since he had no idea that his Yuuri could play an instrument until he chanced upon this particular picture. The caption Phichit had used mentioned something about Yuuri preparing for mid-term recital.

By the time lunch hour comes around, Viktor had went through everything that Phichit Chulanout had posted on the instagram and had resort to surfing the JSF website for official figure skater merchandise. From there, he purchased several posters of Yuuri that he finds attractive and briefly he wondered if he could persuade Yuuri to sign a copy of the posters he purchased. After purchasing the posters, he tried browsing through the JSF archives records for Yuuri's past interviews but ended up giving up on navigating through the site as his knowledge of Kanji was too little to make sense of the JSF navigation site.

Viktor took his lunch together with his rink-mates, so at least the bantering between Mila and Yurio had somewhat distracted him from his thoughts of Yuuri. He completely tuned out of Georgi's tale of his destined love – Anya, whom Viktor was more than certain would be leaving Georgi soon. Though, he was not quite certain on the exact time-frame that Anya would be dumping Georgi… but it should be sometime in between the off-season.

"So Viktor, care to enlighten us on why you'd suddenly decided to change your theme for this season?" Mila questioned, her gossiping muses acting up as soon as Yakov is out of sight.

"Well… all I can say is I'm suddenly hit by inspiration." Viktor smiled as he replied.

"Right… you and your insistence on tailoring your programs to suit your inspiration muses." Yuri Plisetsky muttered under his breath as he rolls his eyes at Viktor's response. He could never understand what was going on in the mind of Viktor Nikiforov. One moment the man could be so calm and elegant, and the next moment the man is behaving like an idiot that only knows how to goof around.

It was later that night at 9pm, Russia – Saint Petersburg time did Viktor finally managed to speak with Yuuri. With Detroit being eight hours behind, it basically meant that Yuuri was calling him on skype during Yuuri's own lunch break.

"I hope I didn't caught you at a bad time?" Yuuri greeted hesitantly, once the skype request had been accepted by him.

"No… its' fine, I'm only in my bathrobe because I've just taken a shower. Training is off for tomorrow, as Yakov wanted us to head down to Vancouver early so we will be flying out to Canada around noon." Viktor responded, as he grabbed a towel and start drying his hair.

"I see… well, in that case I'm glad I managed to speak to you now since I'm not sure if I am able to speak to you at all for tomorrow. What's with you flying to Canada and the possible jet-lag, as well as the time-zones confusion…" Yuuri smiled a small smile, his cheeks tainted with slight pink making him look all the more adorable in Viktor's eyes.

"Hm..m… true, arranging a skype session might be a little tough for tomorrow… but we can still make use of the chats application to text one another. Granted, the replies may not be as prompt as a face to face conversation it would have to do for the time being. So what's this final year project thing about?" Viktor asked, steering the conversation away from skating related topics for a while opting to inquire about the FYP that caused Yuuri to cancel out on him earlier on in the day instead.

"The final year project is basically a coursework, it took up about 50% of the overall grades and so it is very important to graduating students to actually complete it. Depending on the course of study, the final year project differs from one to another. For example, a business student might be asked to submit a detail business proposal; a five years financial plan proposal; given a case study and later to compile a report comprising of several factors in terms of a performance evaluation of the case study provided or even a proposal that deals with the marketing of a certain products targeting a certain group of audiences." Yuuri explained the concept of the final year project, and proceed to give several examples of what he knew of the coursework usually assigned to business course students.

"Oh… okay, so what does your final year project entails?" Viktor blinked twice, feeling a little bit lost about what Yuuri had just explained to him. It sounds rather mind-boggling to him, since he had never done college before choosing to focus fully on skating instead. Still, he could not helped but ask Yuuri about the final year project Yuuri is working on and speaking of which, it seems like he wasn't even aware of Yuuri's course of study. Oh he knew Yuuri was good in dancing, but after his discovering a picture of Yuuri playing the flute – he wasn't so certain about Yuuri being a dance major student anymore.

"My final year project…well, if you really must know… we, meaning my group members and myself are supposed to be producing a musical as our coursework. So far, we've only managed to get the outline out… as for the details we had decided to straighten out after the Skate America tournament. Rather, they will continue to meet up for discussion while I'm away for competition and one of them would fill me in on the details after I got back on campus. I felt so bad though… it seems as though I'm forcing them to take on a heavier work load." Yuuri responded with a blush highlighting his cheeks initially, the term 'musical' was said very softly so much so that if Viktor was not well-versed in lip-reading he could have missed the term entirely.

The later portion of Yuuri's response was slightly more audible than the first part, but when Yuuri reached the last word of his response the pink blush was missing and instead a guilty look had taken over his features. The moment Viktor noticed the guilty look on Yuuri's feature, alarm bells started ringing in his head as he scrambled to find words that can provide re-assurance to his dear husband. He would have hug Yuuri if he could, but since he couldn't' – reassuring words would have to do for now.

"Well… Yuuri, they're just being considerate for you. If you really felt that bad, you could always volunteer to take up a heavier load towards the later part of the project? I mean, judging from what you mentioned just now… this project is not going to be a short-term one, isn't it?" Viktor hurried to re-assure Yuuri, not wanting the guilt to spiral down into something else that will torment Yuuri throughout his Skate America performance.

Granted, Viktor was curious about the musical production thing but he wasn't going to ask Yuuri for details now. Yuuri was currently guilt-ridden by the fact that due to his impending Skate America competition, the majority of the organizing work for the musical production would lies on his fellow group members. So if Viktor were to ask what exactly would Yuuri be doing for the project, there is quite a high chance of Yuuri over-thinking things and freaked out on the issue. Therefore, Viktor resolved to let things be for now.

"I guess so… when you put it that way, it somehow just sounds logical. I mean, one of them did mention that there's some plan or was it event that needed his attendance in Sydney later on in the month of October… Since Skate America would be over by then and NHK Trophy would not happen until mid-November… I should be able to pay them back for their efforts made during the week I'm away for Skate America." Yuuri sighed, taking Viktor's advice to heart and decided to speak with his group-mates further during tomorrow's meeting and hopefully to work out a better schedule for the whole musical production thing.

"Good. Now, I understand that this should be your lunch hour. Have you eaten already?" Viktor frowned, while he was reluctant to end the skype session with Yuuri – he was also unwilling to let Yuuri starve during the limited lunch hour.

"Erm… not exactly, I mean I have a sandwich by my laptop's side but I haven't really touches it." Yuuri admitted sheepishly.

"Well then, I guess we will have to cut the conversation short in order for you to have lunch. You knows as much as I do that practicing on an empty stomach is hardly promising. So please go and take your lunch. We can continue our chats via Whatsapp, and I need to take Makkachin out for a walk as well. I'd somehow neglected to walk her over the last three days, and she's getting restless being cooped up in the apartment already." Viktor told Yuuri in a no-nonsense tone of voice, that immediately caused the Japanese skater to make a grab for his untouched sandwich and started unwrapping it, going to the extent of biting into it in front of the web-cam to prove to Viktor that lunch is in progress.

"Good. Make sure you finished your sandwich, rest for a bit before attempting your routine. After all, you don't want to vomit on the ice – do you?"

"Mou… can you don't talk about vomiting when I'm eating?! It is quite unpleasant, you know?!" Yuuri throws Viktor a look of irritation, before the skype connection was being cut off in an impromptu manner.

"Oops… looks like I'd accidentally annoyed Yuuri so much so that he cuts off the connection in agitation. Oh well, I'll just apologized to him later…" Viktor thought aloud to himself, as he hurried to change into a set of comfortable sweatshirt and pants before approaching the restless Makkachin to bring the poodle out for a nice cooling evening walk.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 1/3/17.


	5. Chapter 5

Yuuri stared up at the ceiling of his dorm room in the dark as he lies on his bed trying to sleep. He knew it was late, and already way past his bed-time if he wanted to ensure that he could wake up in time for morning practice at the rink the following day. Yet, somehow he finds himself having trouble falling asleep… he hated to admit it, but it seems like he was suffering from his Viktor's withdrawal syndrome. To put it simply, he missed having Viktor next to him while he slept.

'Gah… come on Yuuri, get yourself together. This is not the first time being separated from Viktor, you're not a baby and so you don't need Viktor around coaxing you to sleep.' Yuuri told himself firmly as he tried to lull himself into sleep.

However, his mind fail to cooperate which ended up with him lying sideway on his bed in the dark as he cuddled his phone to himself while he drop Viktor a text message conveying his little problem of being unable to sleep. Granted, this was actually his last option – but he had tried counting sheep, humming lullaby to himself and even reading a lengthy essay on some boring topic that usually makes him feels sleepy on the web using his phone browser.

Yet, nothing seems to have worked… and thus he decided to text Viktor for help instead. Of course, the knowledge of Viktor having the morning free from practice helps to cement his decision to text the Russian at this particular point of time. After all, Yuuri would not wish to disturb Viktor if the man was busy with training.

To Viktor (Message Send on 27th September 2015, 2.30 am Michigan, Detroit):  
T.T *Help* Can't sleep, morning practice in 6 hours time.

To Yuuri (Message Send on 27th September 2015, 10.30 am Russia – Saint Petersburg):  
O_O ! Oh… Yuuri, is there a particular reason behind your having trouble sleeping? Would listening to my voice helps? I would fly over to cuddle you if I can, but unfortunately… *sigh*

To Viktor (Message Send on 27th September 2015, 2.35 am Michigan, Detroit):  
It may help some… but how? It's too late here for you to call me, I don't want to wake Phichit if I can… As for reason behind my insomnia problem tonight, I'm quite sure I can rule out my anxiety being a contributing factor to it because there is nothing important and big enough happening that will trigger such a reaction from me as of yet.

To Yuuri (Message Send on 27th September 2015, 10.40 am. Russia – Saint Petersburg) :  
*Thinking pose* Well…I could always use the voice record function on the app and send it to you like a normal reply message. Would you like me to do that?

To Viktor (Message Send on 27th September 2015, 2.43 am. Michigan, Detroit):  
Yes, anything is welcome at this point of time. *Pleading look*

To Yuuri (Message Send on 27th September 2015, 10.50 am. Russia – Saint Petersburg):  
[Voice Recorded Message] – 5.05 min.

Yuuri stared at the voice message send from Viktor and gaped literally, seriously? A five minutes long message? However that is not all it seems, because immediately after the first recorded message he ended up receiving three more messages over the next thirty minutes or so. All of it range from five minutes to ten minutes.

With some slight hesitation on his part, he press the 'play' function of the message to be greeted by Viktor's account of his whole morning. And the last voice message received informed him that the Russian team are actually on the way down to the airport, and that all his voice recording antics had received various incredulous looks from his fellow rink-mates.

Yuuri could not helped it, he snorted aloud in the dead of the night. He could easily imagine the scene in his mind, Yurio in one corner gaping and spluttering at the sight of Viktor Spam-ming whoever on the other end of the chat using voice recording message of mundane happenings. Then the snort turned into full blown laughter that ended up with Yuuri muffling it into his pillow, and eventually Yuuri fell asleep sometime around 3.30 am lying on his stomach while imagining the scenarios or rather the plausible confrontation taking place in the airport of Saint-Petersburg between Viktor and Yurio.

When Yuuri next woke, it was to the feel of Phichit shaking him. As Yuuri sat himself up in bed while rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he could not helped but groan as he felt his stiff muscles screaming for attention.

"Damn…I shouldn't have slept on my stomach…" Yuuri grumbled to himself as he tried to do some stretching exercise in order to loosen his stiff-like muscles.

"Why on earth are you sleeping on your stomach in the first place, anyway?" Phichit look confused, and Yuuri doesn't blame him. After all, Phichit slept like a log the night before – Celestino must have given Phichit a harsh training menu recently.

"Well… it seems like I have trouble falling asleep last night, so I thought to do some net surfing… I must have dozed off sometime in between hence ending up sleeping while lying on my stomach." Yuuri carefully averted his eyes from Phichit's inquiring gaze, as he was not quite accustomed to lying yet.

"Come on, Yuuri… Out with it, don't think I can't tell when you're lying about something." Phichit rolled his eyes as he took in Yuuri's behavior, while he was certain that Yuuri most probably had troubles sleeping last night due to the obvious sign of heavy eye bags… but whatever Yuuri was doing late last night, it most certainly does not consists of Internet surfing by itself. Why else would Yuuri avert his eyes and looked slightly flush in the cheeks while explaining the reason behind his falling asleep on the stomach?!

"Okay, fine… you caught me. I wasn't just surfing on the Internet, I was also chatting with someone on Whatsapp." Yuuri eventually gave in, but he had no desires to reveal the fact that he was chatting with Viktor because he did not even have a valid excuse on how he had gotten his hands on Viktor Nikiforov contact number. Therefore, he refused to elaborate when Phichit questioned him on the identity of his late night chat-mate.

"What?! You mean you actually do make use of your Whatsapp application on your phone?!" Phichit seems to be shock by Yuuri's response, if his reaction of staring wide-eyed is any indication.

"Of course I do use it, why else would I have the app on my phone otherwise?" Yuuri threw Phichit a funny look in response.

"I just thought it's installed by the manufacturer, and made available to you from the point of purchase." Phichit responded rather dryly while he fed his three little hamsters pet and play with them for a bit, before he started gathering the things needed for his first class after morning practice in the rink.

"I can fairly assured you that I uses Whatsapp alright, I simply don't use every chat applications available in the market." Yuuri responded as he made his way into the bathroom for his morning routines.

"Okay… if you say so. Back to the topic of your friend chat last night, do I know the person chatting with you?" Phichit eventually dropped the issue of discussing Yuuri's available applications on the phone, and instead zoned in on the one thing that caught his attention in the first place.

"…N…No Comments." There was a moment of silence, before Phichit heard Yuuri's response coming from the bathroom.

"Aww… Yuuri, c'mon… we're best friends right?" Phichit unwilling to relent, tried playing the friendship card as he began to bug Yuuri for answers.

"Phichit… no amount of whining would get you what you want, I am not telling." Yuuri responded firmly this time. While a part of him would very much wish to be honest with Phichit about things, there is another part of him that never stops reminding him that the moment Phichit knew, half the world would knew it in the span of an hour or even minutes. What's with Phichit and his addiction to the social media… and besides he do not have a valid reason to explain his sudden knowledge of Viktor Nikiforov contact details.

Somehow Yuuri's reluctance to reveal the identity of his late night chat friend seems to have caught the unrelenting interest of Phichit, and it resulted in Phichit trying to get a hold of his phone throughout the day. Yuuri was eventually alerted to the fact that Phichit had gotten hold of his phone when he heard the high-pitched shieking of his friend, announcing to practically everyone in the rink that he had changed his phone's password key.

"Phichit… stop messing with my phone already. No matter what combination key you tried, there is no way you could unlock my phone this time around." Yuuri sighed as he comb a hand through his hair, trying to get his phone back from the social media addict by the name of Phichit Chulanout.

Never in the life had Yuuri been so grateful to his insight of changing his password key to his phone before, his previous password was pretty easy to guess for people whom are close to him since its' either the date of Viktor Nikiforov birthday, or the number combination that will make up Viktor when converted to alphabet. This time around, in order to hide the fact that he had Viktor in his contact list (mostly from a nosy Phichit) – Yuuri had changed the password key into the date of his engagement with Viktor which he was more than certain, no one of this time frame knew about.

By the end of the afternoon, Phichit had even resorted to snap a picture of his phone's lock screen and post on instagram with the caption 'trying to figure out Yuuri's mystery friend's identity'. True to Yuuri's premonition, this particular post of Phichit had garnered over several hundred 'likes' within the span of a minute following its' initial post.

"So you've gotten yourself a mystery friend?" Shinomiya Kanade had outright asked Yuuri when he arrived at the designated point of meeting for the project discussion.

"…" Yuuri paused for a second, before resuming his action to take a seat at the table where Shinomiya Kanade had taken the initiative to reserve at the café for their meeting. "I wasn't aware you are following Phichit on the instagram."

"I wasn't." Shinomiya Kanade responded, matter-of-factly.

"Then how did you get to know of it?" Yuuri sighed, he seems to be sighing a lot recently. It seems like ever since lunch hour today, everyone he'd met was asking him something that related to that instagram post of Phichit. There are some whom speculate on the reason behind his sudden password change on his phone, and there are some who seems to think that he had gotten himself a girlfriend and thus the sudden secretiveness.

"Well… like I said, I wasn't following your friend… but I was following Phoebe whom was following that friend of yours. You do know who is Phoebe right?" Kanade paused for a minute here, and waited for Yuuri's response.

"Yes, unfortunately I do know. She's the girl that I had accidentally offended a few years back, so you knew her?" Yuuri winced as he thought back to the scenario that took place approximately two years ago. Phichit had an accident during practice, and dear sweet Phoebe was merely trying to comfort him and he'd over-reacted by pushing the girl away in public. Ever since then, Phoebe had taken to avoid coming over to the rink whenever he's around. However, he did know that Phichit's friendship with Phoebe was unaffected by his actions – for that, he was grateful.

"We did a couple of modeling assignments for the same brand some time ago." Shinomiya Kanade shrug his response but did not elaborate further, and Yuuri do not see the need to press on for further details and thus this topic was closed.

"Right, so where is Haruka-san and Kawada-san?" Yuuri asked, as he hurried to change the topic of conversation before Shinomiya Kanade had it in him to ask him about his 'mystery friend' as well.

"Aa… I'm not sure about Kawada, but my brother is having a vocal lesson right now so he probably won't be able to make it here in time. Either way, we can just start the discussion when Kawada arrived. I will fill my brother in for whichever details that he had missed later on in time." Shinomiya Kanade replied.

Kawada Yuki arrived five minutes later with a stack of papers in hand, "Sorry I'm late, I was in the library printing stuffs out. Somehow there's a very long queue for the printer today."

"It's okay, you weren't particularly late either." Shinomiya Kanade spoke up then with assurance.

Yuuri simply nodded along with Kanade's words, it might seems stupid but despite their shared nationality of being Japanese… Yuuri still finds himself easily intimidated by the aloof personality of Kawada Yuki. Even with Haruka, Yuuri still finds it hard to stomach the guy's strong personality. Luckily for Yuuri, despite the identical looks shared between the Shinomiya siblings – the two of them do not share the same personalities.

While the elder Shinomiya had come across the general public with a stoic and strong personality, the younger Shinomiya is actually more laid-back and easy-going. Therefore, Kanade is usually acting as a buffer between Yuuri and the other two members' since Kanade is the only group members that Yuuri don't actually have a problem with conversing and relating.

Shinomiya Kanade took one look at Yuuri's hesitancy to speak up, sighed and decided to take charge of the meeting. Turning towards Kawada Yuki, Kanade asked. "So what do you have with you today?"

"I've gotten a list of the musicals produced by the past year graduates of our course from the library database, as well as a list of the most commonly adapted plots for musical production. I thought we should go over them before we made our decision for our own musical production." Kawada Yuki responded, as she started passing her printed information around.

Yuuri managed a meek word of thanks, before zoning his attention right onto the printed information and started studying them. Judging from the list, a few of the most commonly adaptations made by past year graduates was the musical 'Beauty and the Beast', 'GREASE', 'CATS', 'Les Miserables' and 'Phantom of the Opera'.

"Well… from the way I look at it, we have 3 options available. One, we come up with our own script and do an original musical play. Two, we go for 'Beauty & the Beast' but instead of the typical stage play musical… we do it on the ice instead. Three, we came up with our own adaptation for the musical 'FAME'." Shinomiya Kanade ponders for a minute, before putting his thoughts into words as he announced his ideas for the project.

"Hm..m… considering that the lecturer did reminded us to deviate from the stereo-type, I guess we could either go for option one or two. Actually, we could combined all three options together as one." Kawada Yuki commented as she voiced her thoughts on the topic aloud.

"Huh? What do you mean by combining all three into one?" Yuuri finally had it in him to ask, having never been involved in an actual musical production before – he was quite lost.

"Meaning I will comes up with the script of a whole new musical based on the general idea of the 'FAME', but instead of doing it as a stereo-type stage musical … we will do it on the ice instead. After all, we do have an ice-rink available on campus; so why not put it to good use? Besides, who made it a golden rule that only Walt Disney could do their performances on the ice?" Kawada Yuki raised an eyebrow in response, as she elaborated her answers for Yuuri's benefit.

"Oh…okay, I guess we can go with it if all members are in consensus to the idea?" Yuuri sighed inwardly as he said, judging from the look of interest in Kanade's eyes and the enthusiasm showing on the usually aloof ice-princess features… there is quite a high chance of them producing their musical using the ice as a stage. Perhaps, he should get a head-start by approaching Celestino on the issue? After all, if the musical is to be done on the ice instead of the usual stage … the performers should at the very basic knows how to ice-skate, right?

"That's no worry, I'm sure I can persuade my brother into it. Now that we have confirm our choice of the type of musical to do, perhaps we can move on to the next topic at hand?" Shinomiya Kanade stated with a grin, obviously quite happy with Kawada Yuki's suggestion.

The later part of the meeting discussion was mostly centered on Kawada Yuki, as out of the three of them only the lady had some ideas on producing a musical. Seeing as she had had several of her original scripts being adapted into stage-play musical before, so while she did not have the expertise on musical production – she could more or less provide them all with the general gist of it.

"Right, so we need to confirm the use of the venue first… fix a date for the show itself, then holds an audition for the musical. After selecting the main cast and supporting cast, we need to come up with a schedule for respective training in acting, singing and dancing… also we would need to get in people whom could assists with the costumes required for the musical show. We need a couple of backstage crew/ technicians to assists with the lightings and props…" Kanade was rambling off the list that he could think of that required to be done prior to the actual musical performance.

"Don't forget that we do not have a budget, so we need to get sponsors for the whole thing. We need someone to compose the songs needed for the musical as well, the same to go for dance choreography and not to forget the directing of the musical." Kawada Yuki reminded flatly.

"No worries, my brother could be the director. He's majoring in that sector, I can handle the training for the acting portion as well as the vocal trainer if the need arises. Kawada-san will be mainly in charge of the playscript creation, and the general overseeing of the musical production?" Kanade throws a questioning look in Kawada Yuki's direction at the end of his speech.

"Sure, I can do that. If you need the show recorded as well, I can get someone in to do it. Free of charge." She added after a moment of delay.

"Right, that part comes in later… and Yuuri, I know you are busy since its' still your competition season, but do you think you can handle the choreography of the dance part for the musical?" Kanade finally glance towards Yuuri for his input on the topic.

"…I…Well, I supposed I could do it if you thinks me good enough for it." Yuuri eventually said, not that Yuuri was being self-depreciative again but its' mainly the fact that despite Yuuri majoring in dance study, he had never really done any choreography before. Well, even in terms of figure skating he had thrown in his opinions and inputs every now and then but the main choreography for his programs were always being handled by first Celestino, and Viktor in the later part of his career life.

"Good. We will leave the dance choreography up to you, since we do not have the budget to engage a professional for the job. You would have to do it either way, since you're the only one majoring in dance among us. Not to worry though, there is no rush yet. Before the dance choreography comes in, we need to have the songs composed first. I have someone in mind for the songs composing part, but I'll need to consult them first before anything else. I think that's enough for this afternoon, we'll meet again sometime next week or the week after to iron out further details." Kanade then officially ended their discussion session, as the three of them scattered off to their next class in a rush-like manner.

Yuuri set off for his next class with his head full of thoughts, while he had doubts on his ability to choreograph the dance routine for the musical itself. He knew Shinomiya Kanade has a valid point, this musical production will serves as a final year project for his graduation so he would have to contribute something to it. Besides, its' only dance choreography – they are not expecting him to perform as a fellow performer. Either way, its' still too early to start fretting about it. Like Kanade mentioned before, the songs need to be composed before the dance could be choreograph.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 2/3/17.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I honestly don't know how long I could keep up with the daily updating routine, I shall try my best though...  
Someone pointed out a few things to me, but I'll just put it here as a warning first (it's not clear enough in the chapter):  
1\. Yurio is in Juniors (as per this chapter)  
2\. The Russian Team is in Vancouver, Canada earlier than expected because Yurio had his qualifying tournament in Vancouver as well but his competition takes place 4 days prior to Skate Canada.  
3\. Yurio's competition is at a different rink, not the same rink that Skate Canada is taking place.  
4\. Please kindly ignore the bug of the closely knitted competition dates for both Junior and Seniors in this chapter, I wrote the chapter before I had done any research for the Junior Grand Prix Series.  
5\. This is a Fanfic and I don't really follow figure skating and knows nothing much about figure skate, therefore there might be times bugs may make an appearance in my chapters. Kindly point them out to me when it happens, so I can take note of it and avoid/amend it the next time I write something about it.

Chapter 6

"VITYA, stop playing around on your phone and get your ass out onto the rink!" Yakov barked out in irritation when he realized his best student is still not in the rink for warm up practice.

"Okay…okay… I'm coming." Viktor Nikiforov sighed as he reluctantly set aside his phone where he was busy admiring one of Yuuri's old ballet video uploaded onto youtube by one Nishigori Yuuko, that he had accidentally chanced upon while searching for Yuuri's past performances in the Japan Nationals.

Viktor had arrived in Vancouver, Canada yesterday evening. Yakov had made arrangement with one of the local rinks to allow them private practice time, in preparation for the Skate Canada coming up in five days time excluding today. He spend the whole of yesterday upon arrival trying to adjust to the jet lag from the travels.

His flight from Saint Petersburg, Russia to Vancouver BC, Canada lasted 15 hours and 40 minutes in total with a stop-over in Hamburg, Germany. Add in the time difference between Vancouver and Saint Petersburg, he was quite lethargic by the time he reached the hotel that he would be staying for the time frame that Skate Canada was going on.

Skate Canada would be taking place over the span of three days from 3rd October to 5th October, and this is the first time Skate Canada actually took place before Skate America did. Typically, the sequence for the Grand Prix Series Qualifying Tournament starts from Skate America followed by Skate Canada, Cup of China, Trophee de France, Rostelecom Cup, and ends with NHK Trophy. However, it seems like there was some human errors this year for the Skate America holding site that resulted in the ultimate shift of scheduling on ISU part and hence for the first time since the qualifying tournament started Skate Canada actually had the honors of doing the opening for the Grand Prix Finals Series competitions.

Shaking his head as he pitied whoever was in charge of handling the organizing of Skate America this time around, Viktor was more than certain that this little mistake would not look good in the ISU management books. For all it concerns, this might be the very last time the rink or arena involved gets to hold a tournament under the Grand Prix Series.

A quick check of the instagram feeds inform him that Christophe 'Chris' Giacometti, one of his fellow competitor, friend and rival whom was also assigned to Skate Canada was still in the midst of packing for the trip. It looks like aside from the Russian Team and those native skaters, there are no other skaters that is involve in the competition itself having arrived yet. Then again, not every team gets to have a member involved in the Juniors Grand Prix Series and just happens to have one of the seven qualifying tournaments for JGPF taking place in the same city as the Seniors, only at a different rink and on different dates. This was the ultimate factor that resulted in Yakov deciding to bring everyone whom was assigned to a competition in Canada over in one go, so as to save the hassle. Therefore, it's an understatement that Viktor was quite bored by the end of his first day in Vancouver, BC – Canada.

To Yuuri (Message Send from Vancouver, BC – Canada on 28th September 2015, 7 pm):  
Yuuri~~~~ I'm Bored! D=

To Viktor (Message Send from Michigan, Detroit on 28th September 2015, 10.05 pm):  
Oh… aren't you supposed to be practicing now?

To Yuuri (Message Send from Vancouver, BC – Canada on 28th September 2015, 7.10 pm):  
Yes, but… I've already perfected my SP and you know I'm more than familiar with the FS that I do not need further practice. I would have went off for sight-seeing, except that Yakov disagree. =(

To Viktor (Message Send from Michigan, Detroit on 28th September 2015, 10.14 pm):  
Well… since when did you listen to Yakov anyway? *Skeptical look*

Yuuri's response literally caused a light bulb to light up in Viktor's mind, he must have been really disoriented that he had forgotten about his bad habit of ignoring Yakov whenever it suits his means. Thus, less than five minutes later Viktor was sneaking out of the practice rink and had managed to rope in Mila Babicheva who was also assigned to Skate Canada to cover for him as he made his escape into the busy street of Vancouver, BC.

Snapping a selfie of himself once he had successfully sneak out of the rink which Yakov had rented for their private practices, Viktor could not helped but advertised his smooth escape under Yakov's eyes as he posted the picture on his instagram account. After posting on instagram, he slipped his phone back into his coat's pocket as he started to do his shopping.

By the time Viktor arrived back at the hotel, he had several bags in hand from his shopping spree trip. It may appears to be a lot, but ultimately not everything that he purchased are meant for himself. He got literally everyone on the Russian Team a little something to show his appreciation of them tolerating his little flaw of acting on impulses over the years. Although, the majority of these items purchased would not be given out until he's back in Saint-Petersburg, since not every rink-mates of him had the chance and opportunity to make it into the Grand Prix Series yet.

"Please tells me you didn't buy the store out." This was all Georgi could have managed when he noticed the number of bags sitting by the foot of Viktor's bed when he entered Viktor's hotel room with the intention to borrow the travel adapter from the said man.

"Of course not, in case you didn't notice… not all the items came from the same store." Viktor responded, before he questioned Georgi's on the reason behind the man sudden visit to his room.

"Ah… I need to borrow your travel adapter. It seems I forgot to pack it for the trip." Georgi blinked as he stood stump for a second, before recovering and said in return.

"Alright, give me a minute… I need to search for it, seeing as I haven't even open my suitcase yet." Viktor nodded as he started moving towards where his suitcase lays lying on the carpet floor of his hotel room. Once he had managed to locate his travel adapter, he passed it to Georgi together with another shopping bag.

"What's this?" Georgi felt his eyebrow shooting up his hairline when he received the shopping bag from Viktor.

"A little something for you." Viktor smiled but did not felt the need to elaborate, lest he risk offending Georgi without his noticing. After all, he could be rather tactless with his words according to Yuuri.

"Okay…thanks then." Georgi left Viktor's room with the item he came for, and an additional bag looking quite bewildered. His expression must have been too intriguing for Mila Babicheva to ignore, because in less than ten minutes following Georgi departure. Viktor found himself opening his hotel room door again, only to find himself staring into the face of Mila Babicheva and a sullen teen by the name of Yuri Plisetsky.

"Woah, talk about a speedy reaction. I've only just send a message to the two of you less than a minute ago, and now the two of you are already here!" Viktor had to admit, he was impressed by their speed of reacting.

"Huh?" To which, both Mila and Yuri shared a quizzical look among themselves before they checked their respective phones for the message Viktor was talking about.

"Oops, battery's flat." Mila responded sheepishly, that explains why she failed to receive Viktor's message. Well, she supposed she should thanked her gossiping muses this time around. After all, if she wasn't feeling intrigued by Georgi's reaction she would not have come by and visit Viktor at all.

"…It's on silent mode." That was all Yuri Plisetsky had to offer when Viktor turned his inquiring eyes upon the blond.

"Ah… that explains a lot." Viktor first beamed in response, before asking in curiosity. "Since neither of you noticed my send message, how did the two of you comes to a common decision to drop by for a visit?"

"I met Georgi along the corridor, he looks so out of it that I couldn't help but ask what happened. However, all he could have managed was your name… so I thought to drop by and see what exactly was his deal." Mila responded, with utmost honesty but the look in her eyes inform Viktor that Mila's actually here for the gossips.

"Okay… and how about you? I'm sure you are not here for gossips like Mila do, so what is it that makes you come here?" Viktor then shifted his glance over to the blond teen, as he asked.

An angry frown took over the features of Yuri Plisetsky almost immediately, wiping the look of mild curiosity of Viktor's invitation message once the blond caught on to Viktor's inquiring eyes. "Nothing, I was merely passing by and thought to check if you're back. Do you even know how much nagging and yelling I'd to endure from Yakov simply because you skipped out without any warnings?!"

In short, it practically means 'I am unhappy that you'd ditch me leaving me to the complete mercy of Yakov, and so I'd decided to come by and yell at you.' Viktor automatically translated in his mind, as he took in Yurio's response.

"Well in that case I apologized, and in compensation of the trouble I've caused the two of you earlier on in the afternoon. I have a little something for the both of you, while on the subject please do come in and make yourself comfortable." Viktor then proceed to first apologized, then invited both Mila and Yurio into his hotel room before turning away to go in search for the little something he had purchased for the duo.

Mila opened her gift first, and the moment her eyes landed on whatever Viktor had gifted her with – she could not helped but gasp. "Oh my… the new series of sneakers from New Balance that is release exclusively in Canada. How did you know I was thinking about getting them?! No wait, how did you even knows my shoe size in the first place?"

"First of all, its' hard to Not notice when you have your web browser constantly staying on the official homepage of New Balance. Secondly, seeing as I am aware of your skates size… how hard could it be for me to figure out your shoe size?" Viktor responded with a dry tone of voice.

"Now that you've mentioned it… I guess its' not hard to figure out what I want after all… In any case, thank you!" Mila beamed as she hugged the New Balance shoe box containing the pair of sneakers that she had been pining after for weeks to herself before bouncing out of the hotel room in a gleeful rush.

"So kiddo, what do you think of the gift I got you?" Viktor asked, despite knowing full well that Yurio is never going to admit his satisfaction outright. Still, he likes to ask the blond merely to see how the blond would react for his own amusement.

Viktor had gotten Yurio a set of pajamas with cats prints design, actually the impulsive purchase of this particular set of pajamas for Yurio was what eventually spurs him onto the idea of buying things for the rest of his rink-mates. Because it would seems too out of the blue if he were to merely purchase something for the blond, and neglected the other members on the team. Therefore, in order to avoid gathering suspicion to himself for his sudden interest in 'looking out' for Yurio – he had decided to extend the same treatment to Mila and the rest of his younger rink-mates as well.

Granted, Viktor was more invested in Yurio's welfare as compared to the others. Moreover, with Yuuri's constant check-in on Yurio's general well-being every now and then through their chat conversation… it is incredibly hard for Viktor to avoid 'caring' for the blond. Although, his idea of 'caring' would be a little hard for others to comprehend at most if not all of the time.

"OI! Old Man, Why Are You Staring At Me With That Kind Of Look?! It's Creepy, Can You Stop Doing That?!" Yurio frowned, feeling very much uncomfortable with the kind of sudden glazed over look in Viktor's eyes.

"Hm…m? Oh… my apologies, I was thinking about something." Viktor blinked, snapping himself out of his daze-like manner. Apparently, while waiting for the blond teen's reaction to his choice of gift, he had ended up taking a trip down his memory lane.

"Geez… and by the way I'm not saying thank you." That was the last thing Viktor heard from Yurio before the teen fled his room with the gift bag in hand.

Once certain that there will be no more visitors for the day, Viktor pulled his phone out and started to text his beloved Yuuri again. He talk about how he managed to ditch Yakov and head out shopping, and he zoned in on the fact that he'd gotten a cats prints design pajamas set for their 'son' Yurio. Then he whined to Yuuri about him missing the chance to snap of picture of Yurio's reaction to the gift because he was too busy going down the memory lane in his mind.

Yuuri's response was delayed, but Viktor was not worried. He was more than aware that Vancouver, BC was about three hours behind Michigan, Detroit and therefore there is a high chance of Yuuri being asleep when he send his text message over. Sure enough, when Viktor woke the following day – he'd woke up to the sight of several message response from Yuuri.

The next three days were slightly less of a drag for Viktor to endure, as Chris had arrived by then and the two of them met up for drinks as per their usual routine whenever they got assigned to the same competition event. Up until the day that Skate Canada officially kicks off, Viktor spend his morning going through his routine in the rink; afternoon was spend chatting with Yuuri either on skype or using texts, evenings were most spend in the company of Chris and other competitors for Skate Canada.

Viktor's initial theme for the season was 'longing', but now it had been changed to 'love'. The music he had selected for his short program was 'Kiss the Rain' by Yiruma, a Korean music composer and performer. His free skate program was of course 'Stay Close to Me', and being always one to surprise the audience crowds. His selection for the exhibition skate was indeed jaw-slacking kind of surprise, because he had chosen the instrumental version of the theme song 'Let it Go' from the animated film 'Frozen'.

Viktor's results from Skate Canada was of course a Gold medal, and Chris managed to snatch a Silver with a score of forty points behind him in total. Bronze medal went out to an Italian skater whose name he could not remember. Georgi, on the other hand, despite attaining a new personal best is still unable to reach the podium and had to settle for a fourth in Skate Canada.

On the other hand, Mila managed to snatch herself a Bronze medal in the ladies segment of the competition. And Yurio… well, the blond was still under the Juniors category so it is no wonder that he lives up to the expectation and snatch a Gold medal for himself due to the lack of competition.

Unable to withstand the temptation of seeing his beloved Yuuri competing in person, Viktor whom had volunteered to help Yakov book the tickets for their return flights to Saint Petersburg went behind the coach's back and booked only four tickets bound for Saint Petersburg. Whereas, he proceeded to book a ticket bound for Florida, America for himself under first class seat.

By the time Yakov came to a realization that his star pupil had once again ditch him and ran off somewhere without warning in advance, Viktor was already on his flight over to Florida, America with the intention to surprise his beloved Yuuri at Skate America.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 3/3/17.


	7. Chapter 7

Yuuri Katsuki was unnerved, but no… it had nothing to do with the fact that Skate America is taking place the very next day. While he agreed that his anxiety problem might have been part of the reason that he's feeling unnerved, he does not believe it to be the main reason behind his unnerved state of mind.

He had just arrived at the hotel he would be staying for the week together with his coach Celestino who is now over at the concierge handling the check-in procedures, while he waited for his room key in the hotel lobby. While waiting for Celestino, Yuuri busied himself with the task of surveying the guests staying at the hotel trying to see if there was anyone he could have recognized from his past or was it future competitions. His eyes landed briefly on a skater from China, going by the name of Cao Bin if he did not remember wrongly.

While Yuuri knows who Cao Bin is, he was not familiar with the skater himself. Therefore, as soon as his eyes landed on the Chinese skater he shifted his glance away almost immediately. From the corner of his eyes, he thought he saw Lee Seung Gil, a fellow skater from Korea but he wasn't certain. And then his eyes was attracted towards a rowdy group of people hovering near the entrance way of the hotel building.

At first glance, Yuuri's eyes merely skimmed over the happening without registering much of anything. It was not until he noticed the fact that the rowdy group of people is actually approaching him or coming towards his direction did he make it a point to take a closer look. That was when he noticed what he had perceived as a rowdy group earlier on, was actually a troop of reporters and they were crowding around someone whom should not even be in the country of America now.

Yuuri could not helped it, he gaped open-mouth at the sight when Viktor Nikiforov stopped right in front of him and greeted him. No, a mere greeting might not be so bad … but Viktor had not only greeted him in passing, the man freaking had to praise him for his excellent spins sequence and footwork.

Yuuri wasn't sure how to react, especially considering the fact that they were in public with people from the media industry crowding around them. Having not received any pre-warnings from Viktor pertaining to this particular situation, it was no wonder that he looks like a deer caught in the headlight.

"What the hell are you doing?" Yuuri hissed under his breath, hurrying to duck his head downwards so as to avoid having a Mic shoved into his face like what some of them were doing to Viktor.

"Trying to surprise you?" Viktor whispered back in return, while making a feign movement of assisting Yuuri with a faulty zip of the backpack Yuuri had on him.

"Seriously? With the press involved? Are you sure you're not trying to give anyone a heart attack?" Yuuri hissed back in return, refusing to make any eye contact with members from the media industry lest someone picked up on the strange vibe between Viktor and himself.

"I didn't expect the press to swamp me the moment I reach the hotel, they caught me completely off-guard." Viktor murmured back in return still posing with his business smile for the media, while he responded to Yuuri's question by half-turning his upper part of his torso pretending to sneeze.

"Fine, then may I ask what do you have in mind to resolve this little situation?" Yuuri took the chance to ask when he passed over a tissue pack taken from his backpack to Viktor for the man's sneezing fits.

"Don't worry, I'll find something to satisfy their curiosity. I noticed Celestino trying to get your attention, you may want to re-join him. Just drop me a text message with your room number later." Viktor urged, keeping his voice down so as to avoid catching the media attention.

"Alright, good luck then." Yuuri whispered before worming his way out from the crowd surrounding him and Viktor, and re-join his coach Celestino together with their luggages at the lift lobby instead.

"So Viktor, I'm sure many of our audiences are curious about your reasons behind coming in person to witness Skate America in action. Would you like to enlighten us on your reasoning behind it?" That was apparently the last question that Yuuri managed to hear from the reporters before Celestino practically shoved him straight into the elevator.

"What in the world was that just now, Yuuri?!" Celestino was frowning when he brought up the commotion that took place downstairs with Yuuri.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Yuuri tried to feign innocent, but Celestino was no fool.

"The commotion downstairs, you were practically swamp by reporters." Celestino reminded dryly.

"Well… the reporters sure weren't interested in me… they are more interested in Viktor Nikiforov. I simply had the misfortune to be standing down there, and he was just greeting me in passing out of basic courtesy." Yuuri tried to school his features into a nonchalant one, and judging from Celestino skeptical look he wasn't being successful enough.

"Are you sure that is all that happens? I seemed to recall overhearing someone commenting that Viktor Nikiforov actually praised you in front of the media?" Celestino prompted, wanting to know absolutely everything that was said in front of the media.

"… I'm sure he is just being polite." Yuuri responded weakly, as he work to channel forth his inner low self esteem while hoping it could have fooled Celestino better.

Thankfully, this time around Yuuri seemed to be successful in his dodging. Granted, Celestino still appeared skeptical but at least was no longer pressing him for further details. Most probably, Celestino had wanted to avoid provoking Yuuri into a panic attack so near to the start of Skate America.

Once Celestino excused himself from Yuuri's company, the Asian man hurried to check his phone. He had not the chance to listen in to how Viktor had responded to that question earlier on due to being shoved into the elevator by Celestino, and so he decided to check the Internet for the latest trending news. While he knew that the news containing Viktor's presence in Florida, America might not be up yet but with Viktor's popularity level, one can never be too sure about it.

Dropping a text to Viktor first with his hotel room number included, Yuuri then switch the APP over to the phone's browser looking out for the latest news feeds from sports channel. Almost immediately, the headlines of 'Viktor Nikiforov in Florida, America to support Yuuri, Katsuki?!' , 'Viktor Nikiforov – a fan of Japanese skater Yuuri Katsuki?' stood out to him.

Swallowing nervously, Yuuri clicked on the two articles as he began to read. The first report was okay because despite the headline, the article itself was quite general and vague in terms of contents. While it did briefly touches on Viktor's opinion of his spins and footwork, it provides no wild speculation of Viktor and his relationship. For that, Yuuri was grateful. As for the second article, the contents were slightly more ridiculous in Yuuri's opinion.

It was at that particular point of time that Viktor had came knocking onto the door of Yuuri's hotel room. The moment Viktor was allowed entry into the room, Yuuri had all but leap into the arms of the Russian. Neither of them moved choosing to stay in their embrace position for a while longer, savoring one another during this long overdue reunion session.

"I miss you so much, Yuuri." Viktor had murmured as he buried his face into his husband's shirt.

"I miss you too, Viktor…" Yuuri smiled as he responded with a faint blush tinting his cheeks.

"Well… as much as I wish to continue staying in this position with you, I believe it's time for me to speak with Celestino. Is it possible for you to contact him for me?" Viktor started, pulling away from Yuuri's embrace as he make the request.

"Huh? Why would you want to speak with Celestino?" Yuuri sounded bewildered by Viktor's request.

"A few things actually, first of all I need him to assist me in handling the press and media attention as Yakov is not with me. Secondly, I need his help in locating a rink for my practice … I do have the Cup of China coming up in about two weeks time. Moreover, I believe after that commotion downstairs with the press … he would wants to speak with me anyway. Speaking of which, what can you recall from the past few years that has to deal with Chris or Yurio?"

"Okay… I got that you need someone to assist you in handling the PR and rink time while in America, and I'll agree with you on the issue that Celestino would speaks with you in relations to what you've told the reporters just now… but what has that got to do with Chris and Yurio?" Yuuri was confused by Viktor's last request, what was the reason behind that question anyway?

"We need a plausible story to convince people about how we met. Seeing as Sochi GPF hadn't happened yet, and with the interview given just now… the option of keeping our mutual acquaintance a secret is not possible now. Therefore, we would need another cover story to explain how we came to know one another, right?" Viktor elaborated as he explained his motive behind his last question to Yuuri.

"Oh… well, in that case … I do share several competitions with Chris before back when I'm still competing in the Juniors. As for Yurio… I can't really think of any plausible scenarios at this point of time."

"Hm…m… I supposed we could work with that, where are those competitions taking place anyway?"

With that, Yuuri spend the next half an hour going over details with Viktor pertaining to his competitions back in his Junior days. Eventually, they settled on one of the Junior Grand Prix Series Qualifying Tournament which both Christophe 'Chris' Giacometti and Yuuri were competing in. That was apparently Chris last JGPF competition before moving up to the Seniors group, and apparently Viktor was also in the country then. Granted, Viktor was not actually competing in the NHK trophy but is actually there as an audience and fellow supporters for another of his older rink-mate whom was assigned NHK trophy under the GPF series.

"Okay, so the official story goes something along the lines of us meeting coincidentally in the bathroom where the NHK Trophy Cup (for Seniors) and Nagoya TV Cup (for Juniors) was held. I was so flustered and surprised by your appearance that I left my competitor ID behind, which resulted in your chasing after me to return it. That was how we first met one another, did I get this right?" Yuuri repeated after Viktor had straighten out all the fine details pertaining to their cover story.

"Yes, absolutely correct. And later on because of my personal curiosity to see how well you can skate went on to witness your performance and was very much impressed with your footwork and spin sequence. That ties in with what I'd informed the reporters as well, so it fits the bill. Let's just say that's when I started following your skating career and evidentially became a fan of yours." Viktor concluded, his infamous heart shaped smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"… Speaking of which, don't you think you're a little extreme claiming to be a fan of mine?" Yuuri started, somehow finding the idea of it completely ridiculous.

"Well, considering the fact that I've actually purchased several copies of your posters from the JSF official website – I think the 'fan' part is kind of justified, isn't it?" Viktor announced proudly as he informed Yuuri of that little detail.

Yuuri halted in his actions of reaching for the phone, slowly turned towards Viktor with a gaping expression before he exclaimed. "Excuse me, you did what?!"

"Erm… purchased several copies of your posters from the JSF website?" Viktor blinked innocently as he repeated his words from earlier.

Yuuri spluttered unintelligently as he finally choked out, "Why would you do that?"

"So I could look at you whenever I missed you?" Viktor replied, still not getting the reason behind Yuuri's sudden embarrass reaction.

Yuuri as expected went beet red with embarrassment, how he wished he could have dug a hole in the carpet and sink himself through it. Oh gods… those posters from his dark days back in the Juniors competition, he shudders inwardly at the thought of seeing himself in those costumes again.

"Aww… come on, Yuuri… its' not all that bad. The costumes don't really look atrocious…" Viktor tried to assure Yuuri of his fears, but could not help smiling either. Somehow, he simply finds Yuuri's reaction adorable to refrain from smiling.

"It's not a matter of those costumes looking atrocious… it's a matter of me broadcasting my fan-boy traits for all to see with those costumes replicated to resemble yours in one way or another." Yuuri groaned aloud in response, while he tried to hide himself in his coat.

"Ah… now that you mentioned it, it does share a few similar traits to my own costumes with difference in the color shading and combination." Viktor commented then, as though finally realizing it for the first time.

"Oh gods… please don't remind me, I'm so mortified." Yuuri's voice sounded either lower than before, as he starts to sink to his feet into a squat position while burying his head into his thighs all the while hoping the earth would just swallow him whole.

"Yuuri oh Yuuri… there's no need for you to be feeling ashamed. Honestly, I wouldn't have made that link between your costume and mine if you hadn't point out the traits to me. I'm sure none of the audiences would have made that revelations as well." Viktor re-assured as he pull Yuuri back up onto his feet.

Probably coming to a realization that Yuuri most likely needs some time alone to recompose himself, Viktor took the opportunity to request for Yuuri to contact Celestino again. Once contact with Celestino was established, Viktor proceeded towards the room of the Italian coach for the conversation that really need to be had.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 4/3/17


	8. Chapter 8

Viktor Nikiforov's conversation with Celestino lasted about an hour, at least that's how long it is in reality despite the fact that Viktor thought it might be longer. The conversation started easily enough with a self-introduction made between the both of them. Then it evolved into a situation whereby Celestino was questioning Viktor on his motive of coming near Yuuri by trying to pretend to be a fan of Yuuri.

Yes, Celestino thought Viktor was PRETENDING to be a fan of Yuuri's because it's simply too ridiculous for Viktor to be a fan of Yuuri Katsuki. Reason being Viktor's capability as a skater was very much above Yuuri that it simply doesn't make any sense for Viktor to be admiring Yuuri at all.

"Excuse me, but I'll have to say that I'm not pretending at all. It may sound incredulous to many, but I am indeed a fan of Yuuri's. In fact, I may jolly well be his biggest fan outside of his friends and relatives back in his hometown." Viktor cuts into Celestino mid-speech rather impatiently. He came to Celestino with the intention to speak with the man about gaining accessibility to a local rink for his own practice, and to discuss plans about keeping the media attention away from Yuuri mainly. He was most definitely not here to debate on the validity behind his claims of being a fan of Yuuri.

"…" Celestino gaped still finding it hard to believe Viktor's words, his mouth open and closed some time before he finally managed to ask his question aloud. "What exactly is there about Yuuri that managed to catch your interest and admiration?"

"Yuuri's stamina level for one, his excellent footwork for two and his beautiful spins and steps sequence for three." Viktor didn't even have to pause to think about it, the answer spilling forth from his lips easily.

Celestino blinked, as he took a moment to digest Viktor's response and then he started to speak again. "Okay… I get the footwork, spins and steps sequence thing because that's what exactly caught my attention during his junior days as well… but what do you mean by his stamina level being a point that you'd admire?"

Viktor could not help it; he stared at Celestino with a look of incredulity. "Are you kidding me? You mean you never noticed it despite being his coach for like four or five years now?! Yuuri's stamina level is superb, with his kind of stamina he could easily fits at least four or more jumps into the second part of his programs. Now if only someone could do something about his nerves wrecking anxiety problem, he could have easily made the podium for every competition he competed in. Of course, before that he would have to work on the stability of his jumps."

"Right... so you are aware of Yuuri's anxiety problem as well, then you should be aware that this anxiety problem of his is rather crippling his ability to perform. Seriously though, I've never encounter a student with anxiety level as high as Yuuri before and so I don't really knows how to help him before his competition." Before Celestino could even stop himself, he found himself sharing his failure at being Yuuri's coach to Viktor.

There was a moment of silence as Celestino finally snapped his attention back to reality, and then found himself at a complete loss of words. Did he just rant on his self-doubt on coaching Yuuri to Viktor Nikiforov, a fellow competitor and fan (?) of his student?! Granted, the two of them hadn't had a chance to compete against one another in an actual competition yet.

"… I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that from you just now." Viktor wished he could speak his mind freely about the wrong coaching approach Celestino had taken with Yuuri but he refrained from doing it here and now. Partly because his common sense had repeatedly reminded him that he is not Yuuri's coach for the moment and so he really had no right to criticize Celestino's coaching method yet.

"And I'll thank you for that. Now, care to enlighten me on your reason behind coming to meet me? I assume there's something you want from me, seeing as you'd gone to Yuuri for help in contacting me." Celestino gladly change the course of the conversation topic, not wanting to dwell on the fact that he had slipped up in front of the Russian skating legend any longer than necessary.

"Two things mainly, first of all we need to address the possibility of reporters approaching Yuuri before his competition with questions pertaining to my response given earlier today. Secondly, I need your help in securing a local rink that I could practice during my stay here for the time period whereby Skate America is in progress." Viktor said then, bringing up his intentions for approaching Celestino for the first time since he entered the room of the Italian coach.

Once the requests had been brought up, the rest of the discussion sped by him easily enough. Celestino then proceeds to inform Viktor that he would speak with the authority personnel in charge of the rink and pull some strings in for Viktor to gain the use of the rink in private, after the competition event draws to a close for the day itself. However, that would be after Celestino had the chance and opportunity to speak with Viktor's coach – Yakov Feltsman.

"What about the issue of keeping the media attention away from Yuuri?" Viktor asked then.

"I'll try my best to keep them away until the competition is over, Yuuri's high strung enough for now and I certainly do not require further stress factor from the media affecting him at this point of time." Celestino said firmly, with a solemn expression on his face.

With the discussion coming to a close, Viktor decided to head back down to the hotel lobby, in order to complete his check-in procedures. Yes, he had yet to complete his check-in process but it was hardly unexpected. There wasn't much of a chance and opportunity to do so when he ended up being swamp by reporters and media people from the point he arrived at the hotel. Since he'd ditched Yakov at the airport in Vancouver BC, Canada – there is no one available whom could assist him with the hotel check-in either.

Moreover, he could hardly let Yuuri handle his hotel check-in for him at this moment of time. Even with their cover story fully made up to explain their knowing one another, with the way they depicts their 'friendship' … Yuuri shouldn't even have access to his credit card details yet to be able to handle hotel check-in procedures for him. Therefore, Viktor would have to do it himself even if that means checking into the hotel only after members of the press had departed from site.

To Viktor (Message Send 6.45 pm):  
Done with your check-in?

To Yuuri (Message Send 6.50 pm):  
Yes, just finished with the check-in. How did you know?

To Viktor (Message Send 6.55 pm):  
I heard some housekeeping staff passing by talking about it.

To Yuuri (Message sends 7.15 pm):  
Ah… that explains it, just to check what plans do you have for dinner tonight?

To Viktor (Message sends 7.18 pm):  
No plans as of yet… initially Celestino mentioned dining out but after that commotion with the press earlier on, he changed his mind so most likely I'll be staying in my room and calling for room service. Why?

To Yuuri (Message sends 7.24 pm):  
Can I pop by and join you for dinner then? I don't want to dine alone, it's lonely being alone… =(

To Viktor (Message sends 7.30 pm):  
Ok. Come over to my room in 10 minutes time. =) I'll call in room service for 2 pax.

To Yuuri (Message sends 7.32 pm):  
Yay! Be there real soon! \O/ 333

Slipping his phone back into his coat's pocket, Viktor being eager to meet up with Yuuri once again did not bother with his unpacking. After all, he had all the time to do it later…After checking the pocket of his pants for his room's card-key, Viktor took his phone and wallet with him before making his way over to Yuuri's room a storey below his assigned hotel room.

Granted, Viktor would very much preferred if his allocated room was on the same storey floor as Yuuri… he also knew not to push his luck. Seeing as he'd pretty much booked his room on a last minute basis, so it's considered lucky enough that he managed to get a room from the specific hotel therefore he was not going to push his luck further by requesting for a room change.

Viktor check the time reflected on his mobile phone before he raised a fist to knock on Yuuri's hotel room door.

"Hey, you're early." That was what Yuuri had said when he opens the door.

"Well… what can I say? I'm eager to see you again." Viktor greeted cheerfully.

"Right… since you're early, you might as well come in and wait together with me for the meals to arrive." Yuuri replied while inviting Viktor into his room.

"That's my plan for coming by early actually; I'd thought we could spend the time catching up with one another." Viktor was telling Yuuri as he took a seat at the foot of Yuuri's bed.

Yuuri's room is a standard double room with a double size bed in the middle of the room, the interior decor was not much different than Viktor's allocated room one storey above. The only difference Viktor supposed lies with the bathroom design, while Yuuri's hotel room had a typical pristine white bathroom with a toilet area and a shower cubicle package... Viktor's room had a wider space area that comes equipped with a bathtub on top of the shower cubicle. That and the wall tiles of the bathroom attached to Viktor's room is made up of black tiles which is the exact opposite of how the bathroom that came attached with Yuuri's hotel room looks like.

"Oh... okay, so why don't you start filling me in on your plans for the next few days to come?" Yuuri started, eager to know about Viktor's plan for the next few days while in Florida.

"Well... I would most likely spend some time roaming the streets to do some shopping if I'm not at the rink or in the hotel's gym to train. I would very much like it if I could observed your morning practice at the rink before the official warm up on ice prior to the start of the competition... but I highly doubt Celestino would be welcome to that so I'm going to have to settle for the second best option available." Viktor said as he sighed over the inability to stay by the side of his husband on a daily basis.

"And that would be...?" Yuuri prompted without the need to be cued.

Viktor smiled as he responded, "Join me at the rink when I'm doing my self-practice?"

"With Celestino supervising?" Yuuri looks skeptical as he commented.

"Well... I highly doubt it would matters to Celestino since he's very much aware that you're a fan of mine." Viktor responded easily enough.

"Perhaps, but I don't think that's wise." Yuuri said after a moment of silent contemplation over the idea.

"Aww... why?!" Viktor pouted in response to Yuuri's reaction to his earlier suggestion.

"... I don't trust that you could resist the urge to hang all over me if I'm around to watch you practice... and besides I thought we'd agreed on the idea of easing everyone slowly onto the idea that we're together so as to avoid gaining suspicion to ourselves?" Yuuri raised his eyebrow slightly as he addressed Viktor whom was behaving more and more like a petulant child with every passing minute.

"Well... yes, but can't we just tell everyone that we fell in love at first sight?" Viktor whined, wishing very much that he could simply come outright and proclaim his desire to marry Yuuri right away.

Yuuri sweat-dropped at the sight of Viktor's childish behavior, and resisted the urge to face-palm as he responded. "Unfortunately, I'm not one for the cheesy 'love at first sight' thing. So even if I were to go along with this outrageous plan of yours... no one would have believed it."

Viktor sighed wistfully as his brilliant idea was shot down by Yuuri once again, but another idea hits him almost immediately. Seeing as Yuuri only mentioned that Yuuri himself was not one whom would go for the 'love at first sight' situation, but Viktor knew himself to be a hopeless romantic in a sense. In fact, 'love at first sight' had pretty much described him after the Sochi GPF banquet in his previous lifetime. Maybe... he could be the one to take the initiative in wooing Yuuri again!

Viktor then proceeded to pat himself on the head inwardly for his new brilliant idea, he was so pleased with himself that he was not only spotting a smile but was now openly grinning from ear to ear causing Yuuri to shoot him a bewildered look when the room service finally arrives with their meals.

With the good mood that his brilliant idea puts him in, Viktor tips the staff arriving with their meals with a gracious amount that had Yuuri reeling. When the staff finally left the area, Yuuri turned towards Viktor with a frown on his face and questions.

"Really, an extra $10 atop of the service charge imposed by the hotel that is already considered a tip?"

"Well... let's just say that I'm feeling generous tonight. Come on, let's enjoy our meal while its' still hot." Viktor responded as he pulls Yuuri back down onto his lap and then proceeds to remove the coverings to their steaming hot meals.

"Oh... fine, I won't bug you further on the tipping incident just now so kindly let me eat for myself and stop trying to feed me. I do not want to risk Celestino popping in to witness such a sight; it won't sit well on my conscience if Celestino ends up with a rise in his blood pressure from our behaviors." Yuuri rolls his eyes as he informed Viktor flatly.

"Nah... I don't think Celestino would be popping in tonight to check on you, I'm more than willing to bet that he's heavily involved in a conversation with Yakov now." Viktor proclaimed, seeing as Celestino did mentioned that he would only start making arrangement pertaining to Viktor's practice session at the rink after he had spoken to Yakov about it.

"...Speaking of Yakov, had he called you up to yell at you yet?" Yuuri asked, curiosity lurking in his eyes now as he turned to observe Viktor's expression.

Viktor shrugged, enduring a yelling session and hours of lecture from Yakov was nothing new to him. Therefore, when Yuuri brought up the question... all Viktor did was to nod in response.

"How long did the yelling lasts this time?"

"Not very long compared to the past experience, this time he'd only yell at me about half an hour or so but that's only because the rest of the time his yelling was overwritten by Yurio's scream of profanities into my eardrums."

"Ah... Yurio, I sure hope that my first meeting with him this time around would not be in the bathroom with him screaming at me that there is no need for two Yuri to be competing under the same bracket." Yuuri commented with some dry humor as he recalled the blond with a far look in his eyes.

"Well... it's hard to tell with Yurio. Anyway, while on the topic ... how's your poodle doing?" Viktor asked, knowing for a fact that Yuuri's poodle was still very much alive in this time-line.

For a while Yuuri said nothing, and then Viktor watched as his beloved Yuuri's eyes widen before leaping up and across the room to reach for the phone all the while muttering 'Shit' under his breath.

"..." Viktor watched in stunned silence while his husband panic over the thought of calling Japan to check on 'Vic-chan' the poodle, and frantically thinking up possible reasons to support the sudden need to know of the pet's health situation.

"Yuuri... calm down, take a deep breath and let it out slowly. There's no need for you to panic just yet... and its' not your fault for completely forgetting about your pet poodle. These past few weeks is practically a nightmare to deal with, there's a dozen of things to re-adjusts to so it's really not a wonder for you to forget about your pet poodle situation until now." Viktor hurried to re-assure Yuuri before the latter could start feeling guilty all over again.

"But still... I can't believe that I'd completely forgotten about Vic-chan until now." Yuuri was exceptionally annoyed with himself at this moment, what would have happened had he not remember about Vic-chan today?! Would he end up bombing his Sochi GPF all over again, despite the second chance given to him by some unexplainable phenomenon?

"Relax Yuuri, everything will be fine. You did remember your poodle now, didn't you? So all you've to do now is to make that call back to Japan, get Mari to drop Vic-chan over at the vet to get the health check for the poodle done. You can think about the rest later." Viktor had completely ignored his half-eaten dinner and focused his attention fully on getting Yuuri to calm down instead.

"You're right... I'm over-thinking again, aren't I?" Yuuri asked as he finally managed to calm his panicky behavior somewhat.

"It's okay, now do you think you could make the call without sounding like an emotional wreck?" Viktor allowed a few moment of silence for Yuuri to re-compose himself, and then he brings up the topic of calling Japan again.

"I think so..." Yuuri nodded in response after clinging onto Viktor for emotional support for a few minutes.

"Right, then you shall go ahead and make the call while in the meantime I shall go and finish the rest of my dinner."

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 5/3/17.


	9. Chapter 9

Yuuri glanced over to where Viktor was seated for a second, before taking a deep breath again. Scanning though his phone's contact list until he came upon the name of his sister, Mari Katsuki – Yuuri repeated his intention behind the call several times before he finally press the 'dial' button under the contact's name.

As Japan was fourteen hours ahead of America, Yuuri need not worry about disturbing Mari's sleep with this call of his since he knew for certain that Mari's probably already up and about by now. The call was answered by its third ring, and as soon as Yuuri heard the first sound of greeting coming from his sister he brought up his request immediately before he loses his wits about it completely.

"Sorry Yuuri, what was that again?" Mari sounded bewildered, but then again it's expected with the way Yuuri had mashed everything together into one sentence making it quite impossible to make out the words.

"I ask if you can take Vic-chan to the vet later for a medical check." Yuuri forced to repeat his request, this time do so in a more normal pace so that it could be heard clearly through the phone connection.

"Oh…is there any particular reason behind this request? Because from what I can see, aside of the tendency to laze around without you here to entertain him… Vic-chan looks kind of okay to me." Mari had responded then, and Yuuri had no choice but to spin some tale about him having seen Vic-chan's death in his nightmare.

"Seriously, you mean you called me so suddenly merely because of what you'd witness in a dream? Don't you think you might be a little extreme in this case? For all you know, the nightmare is only something your troubled mind made up to make you more anxious about the impending competition." Mari asked back in return, her tone flat and unimpressive.

"Mari-nee, I know it sounded silly for me to insist on having Vic-chan visit a vet purely based on a nightmare dream of mine. However, I must insists and you knows how anxious I typically gets before a competition. I would not be able to perform well if I'm worried about something, and seeing as this time it has to do with Vic-chan…I imagined I'll only get worse if my mind is full of thoughts about Vic-chan dying or terminally ill." Yuuri then proceed to channel forth his regrets and grief back when he had first heard of his poodle's death before his free skate performance at Sochi GPF. With the memory flashbacks playing vividly in his mind, he did not even have to fake his emotions lurking underneath his tone of voice while speaking to Mari.

Apparently, he sounded distraught enough to persuade his sister Mari into giving in on the issue. Because after a moment of silence, he heard his sister compromising on the subject claiming to bring Vic-chan to the vet later on in the afternoon when her shift ended at Yu-topia, the hot spring inn which his family operated in his hometown, Hasetsu of Japan.

"Thanks Mari-nee, please update me on Vic-chan as soon as possible." Yuuri heaved a sigh of relief at Mari's words.

"Sure, I'll bring your beloved Vic-chan to the vet and will contact you on the outcome as soon as possible. However, I want you to stop dwelling on that dream or nightmare and start focusing on your own competition. As far as I can see down here, Vic-chan is still pretty much alright for now so I don't want you to over-think the situation and messed up your performance later." Mari insisted on getting a promise out from Yuuri before ending the call, which Yuuri agreed easily enough.

"Hm..m.. judging from your expression now, I'm taking it that the conversation had gone well?" Viktor's voice broke Yuuri's train of thoughts, drawing the Japanese attention back to reality.

"I think so, Mari promised that she will bring Vic-chan to the vet later and in exchange I'm to focus solely on my impending performance. Well, her actual words were for me to not over-think and dwell too much on Vic-chan's situation but to focus on my own competition… but I guess it helps that I actually have a clear idea on when Vic-chan's health actually deteriorate to the point of no salvation so I probably should not have too much problem with setting aside the health of Vic-chan for the few minutes in order to execute my short program to the best of my abilities."

Yuuri flushes crimson when he realized he was rambling, but luckily the idea of using his poodle's name in front of Viktor was no longer so mortifying for him. Of course, the knowledge of Viktor finding it endearing instead of displeased by his idea to name his poodle after the Russian helps.

Meanwhile, back in Hasetsu, Japan – Mari ended the call with Yuuri with a frown marring her features, and then she spend the better part of the morning observing the miniature poodle of her younger brother whenever she saw the pet within her range of sight.

"Mari? Why are you staring at Vic-chan so intently?" Hiroko Katsuki, the mother of both Mari and Yuuri Katsuki had asked then. Thinking it strange as Mari don't usually pay too much attention to the poodle pet that tends to roam around inside the inn, now that Yuuri was nowhere around to entertain it.

"Mom, can I end my shift early today? I need to bring Vic-chan to the vet." Mari then said, causing a surprise expression to form on Hiroko's features.

"Eh? Why? Is there something wrong with Vic-chan?" Hiroko started, sounding concern now.

"No… not really, or rather I'm not really sure yet since I'm no expert in this. What I do know is Yuuri called me just now when I'm out for my cigarette break, he said something about having a dream of Vic-chan dying from undetected ailments… and then he started pleading for me to bring Vic-chan to the vet for a medical assessment. He sounded so distraught that I do not have the heart to deny him this little request of his…" Mari then proceeded to inform Hiroko of that phone call conversation between Yuuri and herself.

"Oh… well, if it's to set Yuuri's mind at ease. Sure, you can end your shift an hour early. I'll let your father knows about it later, so he won't question your absence. " Hiroko Katsuki told Mari then, before going back to her task on hand.

Eventually, Viktor had ended up staying the night in Yuuri's hotel room instead of heading back to his own. After that phone call to Japan, Yuuri despite knowing for a fact that nothing would happened to Vic-chan as of yet was too high-strung with emotions to actually sleep. Therefore, Viktor had continued to stay on after dinner and cuddles up to Yuuri as he whispered re-assuring words to the worried man.

The next morning Yuuri met Celestino for breakfast in the hotel's buffet restaurant with Viktor in tow, causing the Italian coach to raise an eyebrow in question.

"I would say good morning, but judging from the sight of the heavy dark rings under your eyes… you didn't really sleep a wink , did you?" Celestino voiced his question across to a sleep-deprived Yuuri, after he nod to Viktor in acknowledgement.

"…" There was no response from Yuuri aside from a mumbled sound of apology. To which, Celestino responded by taking a sip of his coffee while inwardly racking his brain for something to say. The sight of Yuuri appearing in front of him in a sleep-deprived state of mind was nothing unfamiliar to Celestino, because he knew Yuuri tends to get over-anxious the night before a competition and ends up not getting enough sleep.

After a light breakfast, Yuuri followed Celestino to the rink in preparation for morning practice. Meanwhile, Viktor opted to head back to his own room for a nap which Yuuri supposed it's only logical since Viktor would be unable to enter the rink when it's only open to competitor and their coach at this point of time. Seeing as Yuuri's coach is still Celestino for now, and Viktor is not involved in Skate America himself so the man does not have an excuse to join Yuuri at the rink.

"Yuuri, no jumps and I mean it." Celestino's tone was stern and his expression solemn, and Yuuri nodded in agreement. If Celestino was surprised by Yuuri's lack of argument to his orders, he fails to show it. In any case, the morning practice was cut short as there wasn't really much that could be done with Yuuri heavily lacking in the sleep department and so after the lots were draw and the performing sequence confirmed and recorded down by the authority… Celestino herded Yuuri back to the hotel with the intention to make Yuuri do a nap before heading back to the rink for the competition itself.

Yuuri took the elevator up to the floor where Viktor's room was situated, he had accidentally left his phone with Viktor just now during breakfast. Somehow, his muddled mind had forgotten about the fact that he was back in the past and so if he wants to have his phone with the coach while he's going on the ice – he has to hand it over to Celestino instead of Viktor. Therefore, he was now knocking on Viktor's door with the intention to retrieve his mobile phone from his husband, or rather future husband in this case.

"Welcome back, what's the result of the draw?" Viktor asked as he answered the door for Yuuri.

"I'm going third, and can I have my phone?" Yuuri answered easily enough, but his tone reflected an underlying tone of exhaustion.

"Sure, here you go…" Viktor handed the phone to Yuuri easily enough, and then proceed to pull Yuuri down onto the bed with him.

"I'm going to take a nap, wake me up when its' time to head back to the rink – will you?" Yuuri requested, he was unable to sleep a wink for the whole of last night and when he finally had the urge to shut his eyes, its' time for breakfast literally and so he knew he really needs a nap before taking his turn on the ice for his short program else it would be a certainty for him to screw up his performance.

"Of course, I'll set an alarm on my phone as well. Just in case I fall back into sleep while cuddling you in my arms." Viktor smiled in response to Yuuri's request.

Mari's text message arrived five minutes before Yuuri's official turn on the ice, apparently Mari had already brought the poodle to the vet for a medical check. However, due to the time difference between Japan and America; Mari had delayed contacting Yuuri after Vic-chan's trip to the vet wanting to leave it until later on in the evening when she's certain that she did not disturb Yuuri at an ungodly hours. Unfortunately due to the unexpected rush of customers frequenting Yu-topia that afternoon, Mari had totally forgotten to get back to Yuuri on the updates of Vic-chan. Thus resulting in the message that comes in only minutes away from Yuuri's turn on the ice.

The message says that Vic-chan was diagnose with a case of obesity in dogs, most probably due to his diet being over nutritious and a lack of proper exercise to keep its' weight in check. The doctor had put Vic-chan on a strict diet regime, and informed them to take Vic-chan out for regular exercise.

"Yuuri, are you okay?" Celestino's voice interrupted Yuuri, breaking him out from his own racing mind.

"Erm… yes, I'm alright." Yuuri nodded, handing his phone back to Celestino for safe-keeping reluctantly. He wanted very much to reply to Mari's message now, but knew its' better to wait until after his performance to do it. Otherwise, his mind would be too congested with thoughts about who to bring Vic-chan out for daily exercise trip to be able to focus on his own performance.

As Yuuri took off his skate guards and step out onto the ice, he heard the familiar sound of Viktor coming from the audience crowd shouting out 'Yuuri, DAVAI!' Although, with his glasses off his sight was blurry but Yuuri still managed to turn towards the estimated area where Viktor is observing and smiled a shy smile towards that general direction before heading into his starting position on the ice and waited for the music to begin.

Yuuri's theme for the season was friendship, unlike Viktor he did not bother to change his theme since friendship was something he could relates to irregardless which stage of his life he was at. The only thing Yuuri had done was to change his arrangement of the routine sequences, and because his music was practically picked and selected by Celestino – it was generally tunes played on the piano with occasional support from another instrument. Which is exactly the case for his short program music – Reminiscent by Yiruma.

Yuuri started off his performance with his beautiful execution of field moves and infamous steps sequence before moving into position and prepared for his first jump, a triple toe loop. Yuuri knows that he tends to flub his jumps if he was deep in thoughts, so instead of thinking about how and whether he could land the jump properly – he chose to lose himself within the music instead.

Both Celestino and Viktor heaved a sigh of relief when they noticed that Yuuri had managed to land his first jump, the standalone triple toe-loop smoothly. The next combination jump sequence that includes a triple flip – double toe loops – and a triple Lutz was also executed flawlessly allows them to breathe even easier as the program moves into the second half of the short program music.

Maybe it was the sudden relief of having executed all of his jumps smoothly so far that distracted Yuuri, or it might be a sudden thought that worm itself into the Japanese skater's mind. Regardless of the exact reason, Yuuri somehow under-rotated his final jump in the program. It was meant to be a triple Axel which also happens to be a compulsory jump for the men's short program component, but he ended up executing it as a double Axel instead.

'Oh well… at least I should be glad that I didn't flub it entirely by taking a fall from it.' Yuuri reminded himself inwardly as he glided into his execution of his combination spins sequence that comprised of the camel spin variations that includes the catch-foot and the doughnut position, and then followed by the upright biellmann spin that marks the end of the spins combination combo. As the music comes to a stop, Yuuri's position has also moved to its final ending pose on the ice. Despite the audience cheers, Yuuri's face remains in a frown obviously still beating himself up over the downgraded Axle jump from earlier.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 6/3/17.


	10. Chapter 10

Viktor Nikiforov was feeling excited, he was literally bouncing on his feet as he awaited for Yuuri to join him in the audience seats so that he could give Yuuri a 'brotherly' hug to congratulate the Asian for the new personal best result attained from the short program earlier. Granted, Viktor would very much likes to do more than just giving Yuuri a 'brotherly' hug that he often did with Yurio, Georgi or even Mila when he's in the mood to do so… but he knew not to do them where the public eyes could see. Behind closed doors however is another matter altogether, but in order to have that Viktor would have to behave himself or Yuuri could be annoyed with him enough to deny him the more intimate shower of hugs and kisses later on back in the privacy of the hotel rooms.

Due to Viktor's popularity in the competitive skating industry, he had been granted the opportunity to view the competition from the VIP seats area where usually members of sponsoring companies or fellow competitors whom had finished their turn but do not wish to watch the rest of the competition from the TV screen where the changing room came equipped would be seated. Viktor, being Viktor of course had requested for Yuuri to join him where he was at the VIP box seats as soon as possible after receiving the results from the Kiss & Cry.

When Yuuri appeared with his glasses and the jacket of Team Japan back on at the VIP box seats, Viktor had all leap into action hugging Yuuri with all his might and wishing Yuuri a 'Congratulations on setting a new personal best' for all to see and hear.

"… Thank you." Yuuri upon noticing that Viktor's actions had gained themselves an amount of attention from audiences sitting nearby, flushed crimson as he hurried to step out from Viktor's embrace.

Viktor pouted briefly at the loss of contact, but then recovered almost immediately. He pulled Yuuri down to a seat next to him, and asked idly. "Where's Celestino?"

"Ditched him with the reporters." Yuuri responded easily enough, never one whom enjoy having the media attention on himself… Yuuri excused himself as soon as the score was announced feeling no guilt on his part for leaving his coach alone to deal with the press. Besides, Celestino should be more than used to this particular habit of his and it was suspicious enough for him to somehow befriending Viktor Nikiforov without anyone knowing until yesterday itself. There was no need to add on the sudden ability to face the press without the overwhelming need to hide away as well.

"So any idea on how you want to celebrate your win for the short program yet?" Viktor then asked, jolting Yuuri out from his thoughts.

"Huh? Celebrate? What's there to celebrate about?" Yuuri looked confused as he stared at Viktor.

"Your new personal best record for the season, of course!" Viktor exclaimed.

"… It's hardly my best and you knows it. I didn't even come close to beating your world record for the short program." Yuuri commented dryly, but he do admit that was his best short program scores ever for a program routine choreograph by Celestino.

"Well then you can take it as a reward for not losing yourself to the nerves without me watching you from the rink side." Viktor then announced, either way he was adamant on taking Yuuri out for a celebration.

"Oh fine… you win. So what do you want for us to do? But I'll have to insist on the no drinking part." Yuuri eventually relented, he could never resists Viktor for long anyway.

"Don't worry, I won't let you drink much before your free skate competition day anyway." Viktor commented back in return.

"Even if there is a day break in between?" Yuuri questioned with some skepticism as he listened to Viktor's claim.

"Of course!" Viktor proclaimed innocently.

"Whatever." Yuuri rolled his eyes at Viktor's innocent act, he was more than certain that Viktor had something planned in mind for the next day. After all, it wasn't in Viktor's nature to laze around all day and do nothing.

True to Yuuri's premonition, Viktor woke him up early in the morning of the next day claiming that he wanted to go and do some sight-seeing.

"Sight-seeing? It's only 6 am, my dear … there's nothing much to see at this hour." Yuuri said when he took a peek at the time reflected on his phone's home screen.

"I know, that's why we are going to get breakfast together first. Then we are going to the rink for some practice time and then we shall go on our sight seeing trip." Viktor beamed cheerfully at Yuuri. It took quite some time for Viktor to wake Yuuri up for his plan, but eventually he managed.

It took half an hour for Yuuri to be fully awake, and then the day officially begun. They took breakfast again at the hotel buffet restaurant with Celestino, and that means Viktor need to limit their physical contact to a minimal with a few touches here and there under the dining table and away from Celestino's prying eyes.

After breakfast, Viktor joined the duo at the rink for some morning practices. As there would be no competition going on for the day, or at least the early morning part of the day due to the scheduled ice maintenance at 9 am. The competition for the ladies short program would only starts after 11 am, whereas the men's competitors get the day off. Since the hours are still early Viktor was allowed to gain access to the rink for the first time in the morning hours since his arrival at Miami, Florida. His usual rink time while at Miami, Florida was mainly arranged in the evening hours after the competition event was over for the day. Well...excluding yesterday, the pair-skating event over-runs due to some technical fault in the sound system and thus resulting in the delay of the usual evening round of ice maintenance session that took up Viktor's usual practicing time so he ended up traveling to the Intercontinental Hotel about 30 minutes car ride away just to use the hotel's outdoor open rink for his practice.

Either way, Yuuri's morning practice regime for the day was exceptionally light and Viktor was more than willing to bet his money on the fact that it's due to Celestino wanting Yuuri to rest well seeing as even with the nap before his short program the day before... It was obvious that Yuuri was still lacking in the sleep department. Although, the man did at least managed a seven hour sleep yesterday night if one could discount the fact that Yuuri woke at freaking 3 am in America time to call Japan, so he would not disturb whoever was on the other end of the line from their work (?) since 3 am in America is pretty much equivalent to 5 pm in Japan.

"Yuuri, have you given any thoughts about your exhibition skate yet?" Viktor voiced his question across to Yuuri who was busying himself with doing some laps in the rink by drawing figures with his skates on the ice.

There was a pause, and then a wide-eyed look shared between the coach and the student before Yuuri answered. "Erm…no… I mean, I didn't really think about it."

"…" Viktor said nothing but turned towards the Italian coach and waited in silence. Celestino only sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose wearily and answered, "No… we didn't really thinks about it. I mean, Yuuri was contemplating on withdrawing from the competitions several weeks ago and then he had a meltdown not long after, when he returned for practice he only has like two weeks to train up his routines and make the relevant adjustments to the routine arrangements. Moreover, I didn't want to stress him out by making him think of the exhibition skate because it might otherwise pressure Yuuri into thinking that he needs to make the podium or else he would be letting everyone down."

"… Well, its' not like I'm really going to make the podium right?" Yuuri started sounding rather unsure right now, if it was the previous time around he could very much says that he would not make the podium since he had quite a number of points deducted on the technical elements of the program and ended up in the fourth position instead. Now though, he couldn't say for certain anymore… not only did he ended up gaining a new personal best from his short program executed the day before and he had also ended up with a temporary ranking of 2nd right behind the Chinese skater Cao Bin.

"Yuuri… let me be frank with you, assuming that you'd performed as well as you did for the short program on your free skate tomorrow. Even if you only had 1 quad which is the toe-loop planned for your free skate, if you managed to not flub every jumps of yours – I can guarantee that you will make the podium for sure. Granted, it would not be Gold with Cao Bin around but with the more challenging opponents not being involved in Skate America this time, I would think you could easily attained a Silver or a Bronze. Besides, even if you missed the podium for Skate America in the worst case scenario… you would still be on the podium for the NHK Trophy, so an exhibition skate would be needed either way." Viktor informed his future husband in a matter-of-fact tone that caused Yuuri to wince inwardly in response.

"Fine, I'll start thinking of one…" Yuuri sighed aloud as he responded. Thinking about the exhibition skate makes his head hurts, he thought of re-using the program he'd done for the exhibition from his last experience at the NHK Trophy when he earned himself a spot for the Sochi Grand Prix… but he found himself wincing at the sheer memory of it.

"If all else fails… you have my permission to do an old program of mine for your exhibition." Viktor eventually took pity on Yuuri and said, he knew Yuuri knows all of his program routines by heart seeing as before Yuuri went into competitive skating of his own … both Yuuri and Yuuko tends to mimic his programs for their own practices.

"… We'll see." Yuuri muttered in response, before stepping off the ice and headed towards where his belongings was placed and started rummaging through for his mp3 player. Yuuri then proceed to spend the rest of his sight-seeing trip with Viktor thinking about the exhibition program skate that he would need, one way or another either for Skate America or the NHK Trophy to come. After all, in order to make it into the Sochi Grand Prix he would need to make the podium at least in one of the qualifying tournaments.

"So how's it going for the exhibition program? Any solid idea on what to do yet?" Viktor had asked later when they were back in the hotel room of Yuuri.

Speaking of the hotel room, Viktor realized that he's practically using his own reserved room as a walk in wardrobe since the only time he's in there is for a shower and a quick change of clothes. The rest of the time he'd spend in Yuuri's room, and because Yuuri tends to avoid mingling with fellow competitors… no one would come by and pay a visit except for the Italian coach whom only do so in the morning to wake Yuuri up in preparation for the day ahead.

Viktor, being Viktor was always up and about by the time Celestino drops by and somehow he had managed to avoid crossing path with the Italian coach every morning following his spending the night at Yuuri's room. The man either fail to suspect the nature of Yuuri and his relationship is not as simple as what their cover story made it out to be, or that the man chose to ignore it altogether. Either way, Viktor opts to not pry and simply chuck it all up to his luck and definitely the good security measures the hotel had implemented.

"There's no particular rules for the music involved in exhibition skate, right?" Yuuri had asked, looking up at Viktor putting a pause to whatever music he had been listening to on his mp3 player.

"Yes… the music for exhibition are typically less constrained than for competitive programs. Why, do you have something in mind for it?" Viktor asked, sounding very much eager to know what music Yuuri is thinking of using for the exhibition program.

"Well… I was thinking of using this." Yuuri said as he hand over the earpiece to his mp3 player and press the 'resume playing' button on his music player.

"Graduation – Friends Forever by Vitamin C? How cliché, you do know you don't have to stick to the theme for exhibition program right?" Viktor questioned with a slight raise of his eyebrows.

"I know you offered me the choice of using one of your old programs, but I don't want to downgrade your jumps to suit my current level of skills. I may have the knowledge to do more than the quad toe in my mind, but my body is not train for them yet. Pulling off a quad flip now is reckless and impossible, but doing your program without the quad flip doesn't seems right." Yuuri explained, trying to explain his reasons for turning down the offer to do one of Viktor's old program for his exhibition.

"Hm…m… well, it's your choice so I'm not going to say anything against it. So if you are going with this graduation song… have you thought about how you're going to skate it?" Viktor then steered the conversation off to the arrangement for the song Yuuri had in mind for the exhibition.

They then spend the night throwing ideas back and forth between them with Yuuri outlining his base arrangement and Viktor adding in his own inputs in between, and then the following morning before any competitors reaches the rink for warm up… Yuuri shows Celestino what he had for the exhibition program, and between the Italian coach and the student they tweaked the arrangements some more before finally deemed it alright enough for the exhibition, They will work further on it after Skate America, but the main thing now is that they had a program ready for the impending exhibition if they needed it.

Yuuri's free skate music was 'Canon in C Major' but not exactly the original piece, but is more of a modified piece and essentially merged three styles of the Canon variations into one. It comprised of the original Canon at the beginning of the music, and then moved on to the rock version of the Canon variation by Takushi Koyama before ending with the version performed by George Winston. Celestino's initial pick was Canon in D, but Yuuri thought Canon in D sounds better on string instruments as compared to on the piano. Hence, Celestino changed it to Canon in C instead.

Since generally for free skate programs, skaters tends to use music with different mood and tempos… and seeing as the short program music used is already soothing enough, Yuuri thought it might be better to add more variation to the Canon piece. And then one day Phichit approached him with the current version of the Canon he's skating to, he did not ask who had given Phichit the music but he suspected it to be Miranda Cornwell – the girl majoring in music and had previously tried composing a song for his free-skate program which Celestino shot down thinking it too bland. The thought of that girl reminded Yuuri of his original free skate music 'Yuuri on Ice' for the next season, he probably should start approaching Miranda again before he actually graduated in order to get the music done and ready.

Taking his position on the ice, Yuuri willed himself to lose himself in the music so he could better ignore the fact that there are dozen of eyes upon him as he skated his program. For his free skate, he had arranged for the majority of the jumps to take place during where the rock variation of the music came in. This time around, he did his combination spins sequence first, followed by his jumps arrangements and ended with his enchanting steps movements. By the time he skated to an end of his program, he still had plenty of stamina to spare but then again considering that Celestino's choreography has never been anything too challenging and difficult to handle – it was to be expected.

His free skate score was 160.5, considering he scored mainly on the PCS rather than the TES and combined with his short program score which is 89.2, he managed a total of 249.7 – quite average he would say, but nonetheless considering he only had two weeks to train for everything he thought it alright for now. In the end, he managed to make the podium by getting a bronze medal for Skate America. Still, he knew there's a pretty big gap between the scores of Cao Bin (Gold) with a score of 288.9 and even the silver medalist whom unfortunately Yuuri could not place the name even if he could remember the skater's looks.

"Congratulations Yuuri! I told you that you would made the podium, didn't I?" Viktor greeted him after the award ceremony, and after he managed to escape the press once again.

"Well… but it's a close thing. If I had flubbed more than one jump in my free skate, I'll be off the podium for sure." Yuuri sighed aloud as he responded to Viktor's words.

"Yuuri… Come on, don't dwell on what has already happened. What matters most is you'd managed to make the podium. Now let's get you ready for the exhibition, shall we? Although, unfortunately I won't get to see it in action so you would have to get Celestino to record it down and later send it to me, okay?!" Viktor was saying, and he added his last bit with his most convincing puppy eyes look.

"Fine, either way Phichit has already talked Celestino into recording it for him. If I didn't send you the video, you can always nicked it off Phichit later when he posted to his face-book account since instagram does not allow videos more than a minute long." Yuuri was telling Viktor as he started heading back to the hotel, because he had just realized that he may have the exhibition skate ready but not the costume for it.

~to be continued~

Date completed: 7/3/17.


	11. Chapter 11

Summary: In which a new original character was introduced, so a time skip to after exhibition gala, and Yuuri is still in Miami while Viktor was in the airport waiting for his flight back to Russia.

Chapter 11

To Yuuri:  
Yuuri~~~~ Please remember to send me the video of the exhibition program later~~~ *puppy eyes* x 3  
From: Viktor

To Viktor :  
Noted. Speaking of which, are you at the airport already? When did you leave? How did I not see you leaving?  
From Yuuri

To Yuuri:  
Yes, I'm at the airport already. :) You didn't see me because I didn't want to let you see me… :( Okay, I lied… the truth is I can't bear the idea of saying goodbye to you. (T.T) Moreover, you have an exhibition program to do and I don't think you'll look good with red puffy eyes from our tearful goodbye… and besides, aren't you the one whom insisted on having no one knowing the true extent to our relationship? 333  
From Viktor

To Viktor:  
… Alright, I'll admit that you'd a point there. Will send you the video later, might take a while to send it to you though. Video's on Celestino's phone.  
From Yuuri.

To Yuuri:  
That's fine as long as you remember sending it to me Boarding soon, talk to you later.  
From Viktor

Setting the phone aside, Yuuri sighed … it has been nearly three hours after the exhibition skate and five hours since Viktor's departure from Florida, Miami. The video of his exhibition skate was now sitting in the memory of his phone patiently waiting to be send to the Russian. Now if only Yuuri could gather his wits together to press the send button…

Just then, Yuuri felt his phone being snatched out of his hands. Darting his eyes up immediately, he found himself looking into a honey blond female with dark eyes the shade of chocolate brown like himself. The said female goes by the name of Koshimizu Miyabi, and was one of the few friends that Yuuri actually do still remains in contact after leaving Japan for Detroit, America. Perhaps, the fact that Koshimizu Miyabi is also studying college in America helps somewhat despite the fact that Detroit and Miami was about 2213 kilometers away from one another.

The distance between the two cities makes it somewhat impossible for them to meet up over weekend breaks since it either requires a two-hours flight or nearly one day non-stop driving which is unrealistic to get from Detroit to Miami, or vice versa. The good thing though is the fact that Miami and Detroit shares the same time zone, and so during Yuuri's first year in Detroit whereby he was having some problems adjusting to his new environment and started getting depressed thoughts – Miyabi would be the person to call for a change of mood whenever he decided that he needs someone to talks to.

"Miyabi-chan, I would appreciate it a lot if you could kindly return the phone to me." Yuuri gritted out trying to remain his cool, because it would simply not do to blow up at a friend whom rush all the way down with a costume for his exhibition skate program simply because he had called for help.

"Sure, I'll return it to you." Miyabi had said, and then proceeds to drop the phone back into Yuuri's outstretched hands.

"Thank you very much." Yuuri muttered back in return in a mocking, dry tone and looked back down on his phone screen and promptly yelped aloud. "What the Hell…?!"

On his phone screen, with the Whatsapp screen activated was a new message from Viktor showering him with lots of emoticons of hearts and kisses. Slightly above Viktor's emoticons message was a video that was send, and said video was the exhibition video which he was contemplating on sending but had not muster up the courage to send. Yet, now the video was already sent and clearly wasn't done by himself.

"Miyabi-chan!" Yuuri groaned aloud when he realized the video had been send without his knowledge, most probably when Miyabi snatched the phone out from his grasp.

"What?! You have been staring constantly at that phone for the past fifteen minutes contemplating on the idea whether or not to send the video. I simply took over the task for you since you probably would not have send it anytime soon if it was entirely up to you. Seriously, though … I don't get why you have to think so much about sending that video. Granted, the person you are sending to is the freaking legendary skater by the name of Viktor Nikiforov but he's also your friend not just your idol right? I've seen you send him videos of your practice routine from the chat history, so I really don't get why you are so hesitant about sending him your exhibition skate." The female going by the name of Miyabi said as she rolls her eyes at Yuuri's reaction out of sheer exasperation.

"…" Yuuri could not helped it, he stared at Miyabi in surprise. This must be the first time that he wasn't being asked when and how he'd gotten to know the Viktor Nikiforov, so far everyone had message him and ask that question after the news report of his being sighted in the companionship of Viktor at Skate America was released.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Koshimizu Miyabi frowned, sub-consciously turning around to check her reflection in Yuuri's hotel room trying to see she has anything smudge on her face or something.

"No…nothing, I supposed I'm just surprised that you're not asking me the question that everyone tends to ask recently." Yuuri responded, still sounding somewhat disbelief over the idea that Miyabi is not going to ask him that question.

"Well… you're a private person by nature, if you don't feel the need to broadcast the fact that you knows Viktor Nikiforov on a personal basis… who am I to judge you? Besides, considering the fact that you're both figure skaters – sooner or later, you're bound to meet one another either on or off the ice. For all I know, you could have easily met him back in your junior days when that one time the Nagoya TV Cup and the NHK Trophy Cup was held together at the same venue separated by scheduled time slot with the Seniors competing in the morning half of the session and the Juniors competing in the afternoon half of the session due to the lack of competing venues that particular year." Miyabi responded easily enough, shrugging as she did so.

"Wait… how did you know that Viktor was there at the venue on that day? He wasn't skating in NHK Trophy that year." Yuuri was openly gaping at Miyabi now, as far as he knows he hadn't had the time to broadcast the cover story that both Viktor and him had collaborated in to his friends yet.

"Well…duh… of course it's because I've seen him. In fact, I saw him exiting the bathroom a few seconds right after you." Miyabi told Yuuri nonchalantly as though this is something trivial but Yuuri was another thing entirely. He was staring wide eyed with a completely red-faced expression on, so Viktor and him did almost had their first meeting in that bathroom?! How did he missed seeing Viktor then, if that's the case… Somehow Yuuri must have uttered that question of his aloud, because Miyabi answered him then.

"Knowing you… you're probably too pre-occupied by thoughts of your own competition to pay any real attention to your surroundings. After all, Viktor Nikiforov is not skating in NHK Trophy that time so you most likely would not think it's him whom had passes you by when you're too deep in your own thoughts."

"Why didn't you tell me then?" Yuuri then asked, furrowing his brows in confusion as he did so.

"Tell you and risks having you skip your own competition turn due to hyperventilating? I think not. In case you'd failed to remember, I needed photos of your performance for my portfolio. So if you'd withdrawn from the competition due to an impromptu anxiety attack, I would had made a waste trip down to Nagoya when I could have easily stayed home just the same." Miyabi interjected dryly, as she reminded Yuuri of her own reasons for heading down personally to the venue for the Nagoya TV Cup on that very day.

Just then, Yuuri's phone rang and the Asian glanced down just in time to see that Viktor had video-called him. Taking a deep breath, Yuuri accepted the video call and greeted Viktor with a shy smile.

"Hi Viktor… I wasn't expecting you to call at this point of time, I would have thought you would wait until you are back in Saint Petersburg before calling me." Yuuri was telling Viktor while trying to ignore the fact that Miyabi still lurking in a corner of his room, making funny faces at him trying to get a reaction out of him while he's speaking to Viktor on a video-call.

"Yes, well… but I couldn't get a direct flight back so I'm waiting in transit now. Seeing as I have some time to spare I decided to watch that video you send me earlier… and then a question sprang up at me and I simply cannot resist asking and hence I decided to call you now instead of waiting until later." Viktor responded as he explained his reasons for calling Yuuri at this timing.

"… Basically, I forgotten the fact that I do not have a suitable costume with me for the exhibition skate. You have to understand that I wasn't expecting myself to make the podium for Skate America initially, so it's not really a wonder that I didn't pack extra costume with me. Re-using costumes from the SP and FS doesn't really works and besides that is equivalent to telling people that I wasn't actually prepared for the exhibition program… so I had to resort to call in some external help in procuring the costume." Yuuri blushed as he thought back to his predicament after coming to a realization that he had not considered the costume problem until the award ceremony was over and done with.

"Damn right he did! He called me just when I was heading out of my last lecture for the day. He should count his lucky stars that I do actually have something available for him with that kind of last minute requests!" A voice, obviously a female was heard over the connection causing Viktor to blink twice before registering the fact that his Yuuri had a girl in his room.

"Yuuri… was that a female that I heard just now?" Viktor was asking as he tried to comb his memory for any possible female acquaintances of Yuuri that might be allowed entry into the Japanese personal area, the possibilities are kind of limit. Yuuko was one, but she was out for obvious reasons being in Japan and all… but most of the candidates Viktor could think of are mostly in Japan now.

"… Remember that friend that I've been telling you about a while ago, the one whom help to replicate your costume design on my costumes back in my Junior days?" Yuuri started, his face red with embarrassment now.

"Erm… yeah, and…?" Viktor prompted, eyebrows raising slightly as he comes to the conclusion that the female voice most likely belonged to that designer friend of Yuuri's.

"Well… that's her alright, the owner of that female voice butting in just now." Yuuri was telling Viktor, as he turned towards his side where Viktor could hear Yuuri saying something in Japanese to the person in the room. The next moment, Viktor found himself staring into a familiar face that was hovering behind the shoulders of his beloved Yuuri.

"Hello, Viktor Nikiforov! Congrats on your win at Skate Canada! So what do you think of Yuuri's past costumes in his Junior days? I know he thinks it's atrocious now… but he was actually quite satisfied with the design back then." Miyabi was asking Viktor over Yuuri's shoulders, interrupting the two skaters in their mid-conversation with a question of her own.

"Well… I'll say its' not bad. Granted, you are using my costumes as a base to work with … the final outcome is rather good. You didn't opted for a complete replication but improvised 80% of the costume design and only keeping 20% of the initial design intact. You did it in a way that while it looks similar enough, it's a complete different costume at closer inspection. I think that's quite creative at your age then. If I'm not wrong in my presumption, you weren't exactly a costume designer back then – am I right to say that?" Viktor was saying to Miyabi, while Yuuri sighed inwardly as he prepared himself to be stuck in the middle of the duo's discussion of his costumes issue.

"I'm still learning at the point of time, and the idea of me designing and tailoring Yuuri's costume for his competitions in his Junior days were more of a mutual benefits arrangement between us. I need to compile a portfolio of my designs in order to apply for a place in my ideal course of study, and Yuuri needed to have his costumes for competitions designed and tailored at minimal costs. So his family paid me for the material costs, and I'll do the designing and tailoring free of charge for them. That was the arrangements for us back when Yuuri was still competing in the novices and Junior competitions. Of course, now with me studying in Miami and busy with school-work most of the time I don't really handle the main designing and tailoring of his costumes anymore. The main reason I even had one costume of his size on me today was mainly because I was thinking of roping him in as my main model for my impending graduation project. This costume that you'd seen in that exhibition video of his was a prototype design that I was trying out." Miyabi was informing Viktor as she works to keep the costume that Yuuri had tried on, performed with it and has now returned back to her.

Once Miyabi had left Yuuri with the costume in tow heading back out to her residence situated in Miami itself, a few train stations away. Viktor shifted his attention back to Yuuri, and commented. "Well, that's enlightening."

"What's enlightening…?" Yuuri mumbled somewhat incoherently under his breath, his eyes looking anywhere but at Viktor.

"I didn't know that Koshimizu did your costumes for the Junior days, and judging from her designs now and then I'll say she made a very vast improvement on it. Perhaps, it's the removal of the requirement of designing a costume based on a past design product that did it for her…" Viktor allowed his voice to fade off when he noticed Yuuri groaning aloud at his words.

"Please, Viktor… stop reminding me of THAT! I probably should not have told her I wanted something similar to your costumes for my own competitive attire back then, but… oh well, what's done is done. I do not want to think about it anymore, and I would appreciate it if you stop bringing that topic up." Yuuri was lamenting his decision to model his Junior competitive costumes after Viktor now, more than before.

Yuuri knew Viktor would knows from the glimpse of his exhibition costume just now to come to the conclusion that he would be using Miyabi as his main costume designer after his next season when Miyabi had graduated from college and becomes a full-fledge designer in her own rights. Still, the idea of Viktor knowing Miyabi had not only designed the costumes of his future competitions but also was the designer for his costumes in the first couple of years into his competitive skating life was quite embarrassing for him to stomach.

Yuuri had, after all, considered his costumes from his Junior days – his dark days, and the thought of there is an undeniable link between his most atrocious costumes and his most satisfactory costumes all coming from one person was quite a contradicting fact.

"Okay…okay, I'll stop talking about your costumes from the Junior days." Viktor eventually gave in, despite what Yuuri might have thought about his past costumes… Viktor had thought differently.

Sure, the costumes may have been modeled after his own costume designs but they are quite different in essences… Miyabi Koshimizu had ensured it to be the case. Whatever adjustments has been made to the costume design ultimately, it managed to bring out the best of Yuuri's charisma. Yuuri simply refuses to believe it to be the truth, even after all these years. Heck, Yuuri can't even believe the idea that he has fans supporting him outside of his personal friends and relatives back in Hasetsu, Japan for a very long time until Viktor had managed to make Yuuri acknowledge it after he started taking up the role of being Yuuri's coach.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 8/3/17.


	12. Chapter 12

Summary: In which Yuuri enjoy a hearty breakfast at Miami, arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport to find Phichit and a group of his rink-mates from Detroit Skating Club awaiting his return and congratulating him on his bronze medal achieved at Skate America, and lastly he fed the cover story to Phichit back in the privacy of their shared room on campus.

Chapter 12

"Celestino, how are we getting back to Detroit later? By flight or by coach bus service?" Yuuri asked, as soon as the Italian man took a seat opposite him in the hotel buffet restaurant the morning they are due to check out and start their journey back to Detroit.

"We are going back by flight, it's more efficient to travel via planes. I would have thought after our journey from Detroit to here via the use of land transport, you would be overjoyed by the idea of flying back to Detroit." Celestino replied, taking his own sweet time enjoying the last complimentary breakfast that the hotel is providing for them.

"I'm fine with either options to be honest, it's just a matter of finding things to occupy myself while on the journey." Yuuri shrugged easily enough, seeing as he wasn't one to complain much about traveling methods. He would be alright with any traveling methods, so long it fits into their schedule and does not exceeds the budget limits.

With the Skate America over and done with and NHK Trophy at least with another one and half month away. Yuuri felt genuinely light-hearted as though the weight pressing on his shoulders had lessen somewhat. At least, now he would have the time to work on perfecting his salchows jumps in time for the Sochi GPF taking place in early Dec.

Yuuri while having all knowledge pertaining to the quad jumps in his mind, his body still lack the ability to execute them. Therefore, Yuuri had gathered from his last attempted try on his quad salchow before Skate America took place and knew he would have to start training up his quads from scratch. While he would likes to work on the quad flips, he decided that could comes in later. For now, he would need to perfect his quad salchow because he wanted to put them into the free skate by the time Sochi GPF comes around.

How else is he going to be competing against people like Chris, Cao Bin and Viktor with only just one quad toe-loop in his program?! Most competitors had at least two quads planned for their programs for the finals, and Yuuri thought he might as well do it too. He knew he should talk to Celestino about upping the difficulty level of his jumps in his free skate programs, but that will comes later. There is no rush for him to approach Celestino on the issue yet, he wanted to make sure he could land a quad salchow in practice flawlessly before he brings the topic up to Celestino for discussion.

Granted, there is always a possibility of him landing the quad salchow in practice and not in the actual competition itself like what had happened the last time around… but at least with him landing it in practice session meant that he could do it. Now though, it's time to focus his attention fully on his breakfast. With Viktor away, and Celestino not that attentive to Yuuri's diet … it was really not much of a wonder that Yuuri had ended up getting himself food items that are rather high in calorie contents.

Looking down at his breakfast tray, Yuuri was a little guilty about getting himself a hearty breakfast but he found it hard to resist the temptation of those delicious looking butter rolls and almond-chocolate croissant. Hesitating slightly, Yuuri told himself it's fine to have a hearty breakfast once in a while so long he doesn't makes it a habit and make sure to up his exercise menu for the next few days to follow in order to keep his weight in check. With that thought in mind, Yuuri dug into his awaiting food with gusto.

The chime of his phone startled Yuuri badly, and he nearly let out a yelp in reaction. Thankfully, he managed to keep his jumpy reaction from Celestino's discovery because he really had no plausible explanation for the Italian man about his jumpy behavior. He cannot really tell Celestino that he's jumpy because he'd went against Viktor's orders about staying away from high-calorie content menu, right? That, and the fact that he'd thought the chime from his phone was actually a message from Viktor but thankfully it turns out not to be the case.

The message is actually from Miyabi and basically is asking him about his flight details, simple things like the time of his flight and what time he will be arriving at the Miami International Airport. While the questions might be considered simple questions, Yuuri found himself at a loss of answers since he usually don't take note of such things allowing his coach Celestino to handle them most of the time.

"Celestino, what time is our flight back to Detroit and are we going to check-out from the hotel after our breakfast?" Yuuri decided to clarify with Celestino before bestowing Miyabi with an answer.

"Flight's at noon, we need to reach the airport two hours earlier for the luggage check-in procedures. So yes, we are going to check-out after finishing with the breakfast." Celestino responded, without giving it much thought.

Yuuri nodded in response, before he typed out an answer on his phone and send it off to Miyabi. He had no idea why Miyabi wanted to know his flight details though, he could only hope that the girl don't suddenly pop by at the airport with the intention to send him off or something. That would makes him feel awkward, because really… it wasn't as if he's leaving America entirely.

Thankfully, Miyabi did not turn up at Miami International Airport and Yuuri ended up spending the two hours doing window shopping at the shopping area of the airport itself. By window shopping, it basically meant only looking around and not actually paying for anything. The only thing Yuuri spend his money on was a bottle of mineral water which he had every intention to finish drinking before boarding his flight. Ultimately, up until the point that Yuuri was settled into his seat in the economy class of his flight back to Detroit with Celestino by his side, he still had no idea why Miyabi had asked him for the details. At least, that was the case until he arrived at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport and was greeted by the sight of his rink-mates of Detroit Skating Club crowding outside the arrival hall waiting for both Celestino and him to emerge.

Yuuri gaped open-mouthed for a few seconds before he found it in him to ask, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Why looked so surprise?! You made podium at Skate America, of course we are going to come by and welcome you back!" One of the member from Detroit Skating Club responded with a bright cheery smile, causing Yuuri to flush an adorable shade of red. Whether the blush was from the unexpected praise of his performance at Skate America, or was it because he couldn't recall the person's name – Yuuri wasn't sure, maybe it's a combination effect of the two situations?

"Oh…come on, Yuuri! Don't be a stranger, get over here and let us welcome you back officially with a group hug!" Phichit Chulanont, whom was practically bouncing on his feet with barely concealed excitement spoke up then.

"…" Yuuri sweat-dropped at the sight of Phichit's behavior, looks like he found the culprit behind this particular scenario. "I knew there's a reason why I shouldn't have introduce you to Miyabi…" Yuuri was mumbling to Phichit as he grudgingly made his way over to where the members of the Detroit Skating Club were gathering for the group-hug session.

"Aww… don't say that Yuuri, you know deep in your heart that you actually do loves me!" Phichit proclaimed, grinning cheerfully and sounding extremely proud of it. And then Phichit passes his phone over to the awaiting Celestino, and practically orders the Italian coach to snap a picture of their group hug session.

"Celestino, make sure it's a good shot. I want to upload it to instagram later!" Phichit announced, and then joined into the group hug as well.

As expected by Yuuri, the moment the picture was uploaded onto instagram – it caught the attention of Viktor, wherever that man was at this point of time.

Phitchit_Chu  
[Image]  
Group welcoming hug session at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.  
#Detroit Skating Club #Katsuki_Y #BFF #Skate America #Bronze Medalist  
Posted 45 seconds ago.  
250 likes, 40 comments.

"OMG! Viktor Nikiforov commented on the post!" Phichit suddenly yelped aloud while the group were making their way back to the campus dormitory building on foot, catching the attention of everyone on the streets around them.

"…Phichit, calm down… you're too excited." Yuuri cautioned, ducking his head lower to avoid being stared at in public.

"Oh! He says that we should do the group-hug more often, and that hugs motivates you to perform better. Is that true?!" Phichit turned towards Yuuri with inquiring gaze, and Yuuri nearly tripped and landed himself flat on the pavement surface.

"W... What?!" Yuuri spluttered unintelligently, and inwardly cursed Viktor for putting him in the spot. Now he probably had to endure group-hug session instigated by Phichit before and after every competition trips.

"The group hug thing, does it really motivates you?" Phichit asked out of curiosity, although he's also curious about when Yuuri had gotten so close to Viktor Nikiforov. Phichit decided that he could wait until they were back in their shared room before prying into that little issue, but for now he was more interested in finding out if what Viktor Nikiforov had been saying about Yuuri being motivated by hugs is true.

Yuuri turned red with embarrassment, before he let out a half-shouted response at Phichit. "No, don't listen to Viktor… he's the one whom gets motivated by group-hug session, not me!"

Inwardly, Yuuri was grimacing… that was a little hypocrite of him because he did do better with hugs before a competition. However, not everyone's hugs would do the job… he doubt hugs from Celestino before his turn on the ice would make any difference in his scores. It has always been Viktor's hugs that motivates him, and that was something he was unwilling to divulge to his fellow friends.

Deep in his thoughts, Yuuri failed to notice Phichit observing him with a look of silent contemplation before taking another look at the instagram posts and squealed yet again. This time, it's because he happens to see Christophe 'Chris' Giacometti commenting under the post congratulating Yuuri on winning bronze.

"Yuuri, Chris wants me to tell you to update your own social media account … he says that some fans of yours had taken to ask him questions pertaining to your exhibition program that he had no idea how to respond." Phichit was saying as they entered their shared room in the school's dormitory building.

"Oh…" Yuuri blinked, and then his mind registered what Phichit was telling him before he tilted his head slightly to the side and thought to clarify with Phichit. "What do you mean by my fans asking him questions about my exhibition that he had no idea how to respond to?"

"Ah… apparently the official exhibition gala video for Skate America had been uploaded by the ISU on their face-book page, and someone had taken to share it with Chris who then finds it interesting enough to share it on his own account. Since you normally don't update your own account, your fans had taken to stalk my account for updates about you … and now this is your first time making it onto the podium for a Grand Prix Series competition for Senior. They are of course curious about your exhibition program, and henceforth after Chris comment about your performance at the exhibition – it sparks a new round of speculation on your exhibition ideas." Phichit summarized what he had gleamed from the comments reply from his own shared video of Skate America exhibition gala, and presumed that Chris own post about it garnered the same kind of comments from the public.

"… Alright, I'll update my official twitter account later…" Yuuri sighed, he knew he probably should have make it a point to at least update his official social media accounts once in a while but sometimes he just don't know what to post about and with the sudden return to the past, it completely disrupted his plans and the idea of updating his official social media account had completely slipped his mind.

"Yes, well… just make sure you didn't accidentally update the wrong account." Phichit reminded, knowing full well that Yuuri kept his official and personal account separated unlike him and Chris whom opted to combined both their official and personal account into one.

"Right, I'll keep it in mind." Yuuri nodded as he started unpacking his suitcase, as for the updating thing he decided to leave it for later.

Yuuri's official account on social media platform includes a face-book official fan page which was mostly managed by his fans and occasionally Phichit, a twitter account that he managed himself if he could find it in him to do so. He did not bother with the creation of an official instagram account, since he believes Phichit did it enough for him anyway. His face-book and instagram account were kept solely private, and he has a private twitter account and a You-tube account that he mostly just used to follow Viktor's career created when he first start idolizing the Russian skater.

"Now…care to tell me how you and Viktor Nikiforov ends up being friends?! Were you the reason why he followed my instagram account?! When did the two of you started communicating with one another without anyone knowing?" Phichit pounced onto the unsuspecting Yuuri, literally making Yuuri thankful that he was mentally prepared for the questions coming from Phichit from the point Viktor had suggested coming up with a cover story to explain their 'friendship' several days ago.

Henceforth, after making it a point to hesitate somewhat so as to look convincing enough to Phichit… Yuuri started to launch into the tale of how Viktor and him had met up years ago when he was still competing in the Junior competitions back in Japan.

"Okay… so what you're telling me is that the two of you had known one another from nine years ago, in Japan and had been in contact with one another since then? However, because of his popularity level and your own insecurity over your status as a figure skater… you managed to talk him into the subject of not contacting you on social media platforms and instead communicated with each other through the old-fashioned way of emailing? That continues on all the way until a month ago, when Viktor had talked you into the idea of giving him your mobile number and then the two of you switched over to communicate using Whatsapp for correspondence?" Phichit asked, after Yuuri had finished his tale about the whole getting acquaintance to Viktor Nikiforov thing.

Yuuri nodded, not trusting himself to speak in case he accidentally slip up in front of Phichit. It took some time but eventually Phichit stop trying to stare him into wavering and looked away from Yuuri, re-focusing his attention back to his phone. With that, Yuuri heaved a sigh of relief inwardly and was grateful that Phichit had stopped trying to pry. As for Phichit, well… he gauges enough to know that Yuuri's story was not entirely the truth but it wasn't all lies either. Whatever it is that Yuuri was hiding from him, it must have been something uncomfortable for the man to reveal and so Phichit being a supportive, good friend of Yuuri was not going to press on the issue.

After all, Yuuri's cover story was brilliant and if it wasn't for the fact that Phichit has been staying under the same roof as Yuuri for the past few years to know each and every routine of Yuuri's daily happenings – he would not have any suspicion to the story Yuuri provided. Therefore, he was willing to leave it as it is … because the story is convincing enough to fool the majority of the public and fellow skaters with a few exceptions like himself, and maybe Chris who knows both Yuuri and Viktor to a personal scale.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 9/3/17.


	13. Chapter 13

Summary: In which Viktor had a phone conversation with Chris, and later a chat with Phichit via Face-book Messenger and finds out a little bit more about his beloved Yuuri...

Chapter 13

Viktor Nikiforov had just returned home from one of his harshest training session, and all he'd wanted to do right then was to cuddle up with Makkachin for some comfort when he received that voice call from one Christophe Giacometti. He took a moment to consider before he decided to accept the call.

"Hey, Chris… How are you doing?" Viktor greeted, trying his best to sound cheerful over the line despite the fact that in actuality he was feeling absolutely exhausted. Apparently, Yakov was not very happy about his running off to Skate America to cheer on Yuuri without thinking things through and ended up creating a lot of troubles for Yakov to handle in Russia, Saint Petersburg.

Due to Viktor heading off to America without warning Yakov in advance, the man had a very hard time getting Yuri Plisetsky to calm down being one… and then having to come up with an explanation to explain about Viktor's absence from their return trip to the reporters gathered outside the arrival hall at Saint Petersburg is another. As if that wasn't bad enough, less than forty-eight hours later Yakov ended up receiving a call from the Italian coach Celestino whom was coaching Yuuri Katsuki pertaining to the issue of Viktor's training in Miami, Florida of America.

Therefore, when Viktor finally came back and appeared in front of Yakov – he was given a whole two hours lecture on the topic of how he should be more responsible and cut down on his impulsive acts that may or may not be creating problems for his fellow rink-mates and coach alike. And then, Yakov drill him relentlessly and keep finding faults in his steps sequence and got him to redo it over and over again until the man was finally satisfied enough and decided to let Viktor off his hook. However, that doesn't mean Viktor was welcome to leave the rink if he desires it… because before he even had the chance to step off the rink, the angry teen by the name of Yuri Plisetsky had marched towards him and demanded for Viktor to show him how to do a quad flip.

"Shouldn't I be the one to ask you that? I heard that you ditched your coach and goof off to America? Rumors has it that you're actually there to provide Yuuri Katsuki, the up and rising Japan Ace since Nobunari Oda, with moral support. There's also some sayings that you're a fan of his, how true is that?" Christophe Giacometti, a fellow skater from Switzerland, commonly known to fellow skaters as 'Chris' throws the questions back at Viktor in return, before zooming in onto the topic that he's more interested in knowing.

The sound of Chris voice jolted Viktor out from his memory of his earlier training session at his home rink, and Viktor actually had to take a moment to recall what was it that Chris had been saying while he was half-zoning off.

"I appreciate your concern on the issue, Yakov was annoyed but that's nothing too different from before. Granted, he had avenge himself by leveling up my training regime for the next few days to come in order to teach me a lesson, he says… but it's nothing I cannot handle. As for the issue of me goofing off to America, I beg to differ because despite the fact that I might have cut down on my training hours on the rink… I still kept up with the rest of my training menu when I was in Miami. Celestino, Yuuri's coach could easily vouch for me on this since he's the one whom had taken the trouble to make the relevant arrangements for my training." Viktor responded, stifling a yawn as he did so.

"Oh… so you're on first name basis with Katsuki, eh? Speaking of, how did you know him anyway? From what I've known, the two of you hadn't had a chance to compete against one another yet…" Chris asked, sounding extremely intrigued now.

"Yes, I'm on first name basis with Yuuri Katsuki… but what's the big deal about it? I'm pretty much on first name basis with nearly every competitor of mine. Anyway, as for how I get to know Yuuri… that I think I have you to thank for." With that said, Viktor proceeded to feed Chris of the exact cover story he'd cooked up in collaboration with Yuuri back in Miami.

"…Wait a minute, you mean to say the two of you had already met one another nine years ago and has been in contact with one another since then?! How did that escape my knowledge anyway?!" Chris was absolutely bewildered, while he did knew about Viktor's presence at the venue when he was competing in his last Junior series competitions nine years back in Japan… he wasn't aware of the fact that Yuuri Katsuki had actually met Viktor in person. Heck, he wasn't even aware of the fact that Viktor had stayed behind long enough to watch the Junior competitions.

"Of course you didn't notice, we didn't exactly speak to one another on social media. We contact one another mainly through the use of emails back then." Viktor lied convincingly through his teeth.

"… Fine, I'll give you the benefit of doubt on that. Back to the competition nine years back, now I know you went to the NHK Trophy to support one of your older rink-mate competing in that tournament, since I knows that you're not competing in it but was still seen in the area. Assuming that you did stay behind to watch the Nagoya TV Cup that the Junior were competing in… when did you actually get the time to ask for that email address from him anyway? From what I've observed, he'd pretty much escaped immediately following the announcement of his scores and did not appear again until the award ceremony." Chris could not helped but remained skeptical of Viktor's words.

Thankfully, Viktor knew Yuuri well enough to know what Yuuri might have done after disappearing following the announcement of the scores. Therefore, Viktor had responded confidently and said. "He gets anxious easily and he's not really good with crowds, so after his turn on the ice and following the announcement of his scores he went out to hide himself in the emergency stairway."

"How did you find him anyway? Did he really catch your interest enough that you're willing to play stalker on him?" Chris questioned next, still somewhat unconvinced by Viktor's reasonings.

"No, actually I just happens to chance upon him by incident… I was trying to avoid being mobbed by some over-enthusiastic fans of mine when I happen upon the exact emergency stairway that he was hiding himself in." Viktor then proceeded to fabricate how he'd ended up triggering a panic attack in Yuuri then, and nearly panicked over the whole situation himself. Eventually, when Yuuri had calm down enough to speak coherently they had bonded over their common love for poodles and how he managed to pry Yuuri's email contact from the shy, confused and adorable boy before flooding Yuuri's in-box with pictures of his pet poodle.

"…" Chris was silent for a minute before sighing and giving up the notion of trying to find loopholes in Viktor's story, besides it's hard to gauge if Viktor was lying over the phone since this is apparently a voice-call session and not a video-call. Besides, Viktor's acting skills could easily qualify for Oscar if the man choose to go into acting… that much, Chris was certain. Looks like he would have to cave for the time-being, and maybe he ought to speak to Yuuri instead. Chris was more than willing to bet that with Yuuri he would have a better chance at figuring out if this entire story was fabricated or not.

While Chris was secretly plotting to uncover Viktor's lies, the Russian on the other hand was thinking that he should drop Yuuri an email as soon as Chris hang up on him. He had a few further details to provide to Yuuri for their cover story, like his account of how he'd gotten Yuuri's email address back then.

Viktor and Chris exchanged a few more words on their phone before hanging up on one another, and then Viktor hurried to send that email to Yuuri before the issue slipped completely from his mind. After which, he apologized to Makkachin for not being able to bring her on her daily walk because he was too tired to head out again after his exhausting training session. Setting down the phone aside for charging, Viktor proceeds to take a shower and found himself missing the hot-spring from Yu-topia. How he very much wish he could have a nice soak in the hot-spring after his particularly taxing training session at the rink today… but unfortunately, he only had the hot shower in his apartment unit at Saint Petersburg to contend with.

For dinner, he was too lazy to head out and too incompetent in the kitchen that he ended up calling for a delivery. When taking his dinner, he kept Makkachin nearby for company before retrieving his fully charged phone and started browsing through Phichit social media accounts for updates on Yuuri again. Once again, chancing upon the picture of Yuuri playing on a flute… Viktor finally realized that he had forgotten to ask Yuuri about that during their last conversation.

Taking a moment to contemplate on what he's about to do next, Viktor decided to drop Phichit Chulanont a message via the Face-book Messenger before he could discard the idea.

Viktor Nikiforov: Hey, got a min to spare?

PhichitChu: O_O ! Viktor Nikiforov?! Are you seriously Viktor Nikiforov?! I'm not dreaming, am I?

Viktor Nikiforov: Lol … ;-) I assure you, I am very much him in person.

PhichitChu: OMG! *insert a series of excited emojis* Okay, so what can I do for you?

Viktor Nikiforov: A quick question if you don't mind… I noticed a picture of Yuuri playing on the flute on your instagram some time ago. Did he really knows how to play the instrument or was he merely posing for the picture?

PhichitChu: Ah… that picture, well I can assure you he do knows how to play the flute and quite well with it, I'll say. That's a picture I took when he's in our room practicing for his mid-term recital last semester. You're aware he's a student from the school of performing arts, right?

Viktor Nikiforov: *nods* Yeah… I know he's a major in the dance department.

PhichitChu: Well, yes… he's actually doing a degree of double majors in Dance and Music Performance. He can't do composing for music for certain, he's not inclined in that area but he'd excel in his performance area. His choice of instrument to major in for his music performance is the flute, he do have some piano background though. He mentioned something about learning it from his grand-mother in Japan, prior to her passing or something.

Viktor Nikiforov: Really?! Wow… he never mentioned that to me before…*curious look*

PhichitChu: I doubt he would tell anyone about it at all if possible, and if people asks… he might reveal enough about him majoring in Dance but never about his secondary majoring subject.

Viktor Nikiforov: Oh… and why is that so?

PhichitChu: He has the mentality of thinking low of his own ability. It's just how he's like really… despite how we have told him over and over again about how excellent he is on stage or on ice, he refused to believe in it and insisting that he's just a dime of a dozen among those representing Japan to compete on international stage.

Viktor Nikiforov: Wait… you mean he'd represented Japan to compete in music performance related competitions before?

PhichitChu: Yeah, of course he did. How else would he guaranteed himself a scholarship here in Detroit for his studies otherwise? The fees for international students studying abroad isn't exactly cheap, and figure skating do costs a-lot.

Viktor Nikiforov: Oh… I didn't know that seeing as I didn't proceeds on with college following graduation from high school, but on the part of figure skating expenses… didn't he have sponsors for his expense?

PhichitChu: *roll eyes* Apparently he turned down several offers back in his Junior days because he didn't think himself qualify enough for it. Luckily enough for him, he managed to secure a scholarship from our school with his results from the various competitions he took part in prior to his coming over to Detroit and from his various performance in the local competitions representing our school. This ensures him free lodging on campus, and covers all his study related costs effectively lessening the financial burdens from his family back in Japan and so they only need to support his expenses from his figure skating career.

Viktor Nikiforov: That's woah… do you happens to have videos of his music performances?

PhichitChu: I have some, but only school performances since I don't actually get the chance to watch his external performances that took place off campus.

Viktor Nikiforov: That's okay, can you send the videos to me?

PhichitChu: Sure, give me a minute while I try to locate them.

There were a total of seven video clips, and most of it from Yuuri's first three years in Detroit which Viktor supposed make sense in a way. Since those three years were when Yuuri started to transit from Junior to the Senior group, and with Yuuri's anxiety problem it is quite possible that Yuuri froze up prior to his turn on the ice and later did not perform well enough to make it into the Grand Prix Series so that means Yuuri's season pretty much ended quite early in those three years and that would allows Yuuri to free up his time for his practice in the music department.

As Viktor watched the videos of Yuuri performing on stage with his flute, he found himself in awe again. It seems that Yuuri always never fails to amaze him, but he had another question now though. Yuuri always had problems with his anxiety before a competition, but why is it that it wasn't reflected in his performance on stage? Was Yuuri only anxious before a figure skating competition or the anxiety also happens with the music competitions? The videos Phichit had sent him via Face-book messenger were merely concert videos from the campus events… nothing competitive in nature, maybe that was the reason behind the lack of anxiety from Yuuri's part. After all, Yuuri's exhibition video from Junior days reflected the same thing…

Thanking Phichit once again for the videos, Viktor took to researching on Yuuri's music competition on-line and did notice a separated wikipedia page dedicating to Yuuri Katsuki (Musician) atop to the Yuuri Katsuki (Figure Skater) page link. Browsing through the information reflected on the wikipedia page, Viktor found his mouth twitching somewhat at the length of the page. No wonder, Wikipedia had taken to separate out Yuuri's figure-skating experience and created another page for it… because his Wikipedia information about him as a fellow musician was incredibly long.

It makes mention of Yuuri's past competition in ballet dance that goes concurrently with his piano performance at the Japan local competitions on a smaller scale, to a bigger scale competition at the Nationals representing his elementary school and throughout his Junior and Senior years in high school. While Viktor was very much interested in all that details and trying to see what Yuuri had neglected to inform him of over their twenty years of marriage to one another, he decides that could wait until later. He's on a quest now and thus he skipped over all that information for the time being and went straight down to the section that listed out the various competitions Yuuri had taken part in and took down information pertaining to it before pulling out his You-Tube app on the phone and started looking for relevant videos.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 10/3/17.


	14. Chapter 14

Summary: In which Yuuri finally meet with his project-mates, spoke with Kanade a little bit on the topic of his competitions in both areas, caught up with the project progress and had a quick discussion with Phichit on his final year project thing and made up his mind to approach Celestino about his FYP.

Chapter 14

"Hi, nice to see that you're back in Detroit... and speaking of which, congratulations on your achievement in your skating competition last week." Shinomiya Kanade greeted Yuuri, the moment he stepped into the classroom for their lecture that afternoon.

"Thank you, but how did you know that I did well for Skate America? I thought you didn't follow figure skating?" Yuuri asked, as he placed his things down and settled himself next to Kanade as they waited for the rest of their classmates to arrive.

"Well… it's kind of hard to miss your achievements when nearly everyone on the social media more or less heard of it in one way or another. While on the topic of competition, I could not helped but notice that the school did not enter you for the Andrejs Jurjans International Wind Competition for both last year and this year. Is there any particular reason for it?" Kanade then asked bringing the topic of conversation to something he could have an easier time relating to.

Yuuri blinked, looked down at his schedule organizer and flipped through them and then responded. "Ah… yeah, to put it simply their competition schedule for the Wind section clashes with my competitive season for figure skating. That's the reason why I told the school not to register me for the Andrejs Jurjans Competition, because I would not be able to make it due to the qualifying tournaments for the Grand Prix Series that tends to also falls in the same month."

"Oh… what about the other competitions? The American Protégé International and that new competition that's currently a trend, since it's conducted 100% on-line and judge by video performances submitted by competitors with audiences voting for their preferred performances?" Kanade then asked, while he had some music background as well he had never really participated in competitions and thus he wasn't all that clear with the competition seasons.

"Well… there's no contradiction for those two, for the American Protégé International I'll just need to submit a DVD of my performance keeping it within 15 minutes long for their audition selection, and once getting past the audition stage they will send us the information with the dates and time for the actual performance that usually takes place in May. Typically, all competitors whom made it past the audition stage at first place would be asked to perform in person at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall of New York City. Of course, recognition would be given to these participants – they includes a $330 scholarship, Judges' Favorite Award Trophy, Judges' Distinction Award Trophy and based on the judges recommendations other Special Awards might also be granted. Ultimately, all participants in the competition would receive a Diploma in Participation. As for that new on-line competition thing, the official name for the competition is call ENKOR and this year is the first year they are holding it. Results would be announced in May, voting period opens in April and Application is in March." Yuuri explained as he flipped his schedule organizer all the way back to the front part, where he had noted down his submission date for the two videos required by both competition organizers.

"Oh… so you pretty much had already finished with all your music related competitions for the year already?" Kanade asked, sounding quite disappointed for some reasons.

"Yes, and I am quite satisfied with the arrangements. I'm after all quite swamped with the Grand Prix Series tournaments between now till early December, and then a one week break before the Japan Nationals begins. Assuming I do well enough to be elected by the JSF to represent Japan in the World Figure Skating Championship, that will take place sometime in March next year. Before going for the World Championship, there is still the Four Continents Championship to prepare for and that would also takes place next year, the exact dates I'll need to check but most likely in the month of February." There was a pause in Yuuri's words, as he stop to greet Kawada Yuki whom had joined them at their row of seats, which was situated towards the back of the room.

"So I'm actually quite thankful that most of the international music competition are conducted in a manner whereby a video could be pre-recorded and send it off for their selection. That, I can easily do it during the off-season of my skating career… and then if I happen to get selected, the performance would be in May whereby I'm generally quite free since it's the off-season period. Granted, I'll still need to keep up with my training and prepare for the next season's programs… but the schedule is not that tight as compared to the year end period." Yuuri was telling Kanade all about his schedule arrangement, when the elder Shinomiya finally dropped into the seat on Yuuri's other side making it that Yuuri was practically seated in between the Shinomiya brothers.

"Heh… so would you be entering on behalf of the school for next year's competition?" Just then, someone whom was apparently sitting behind them and had been listening in on their conversation butted in and asked.

Turning around slightly so that Yuuri could have a better look at the newcomer whom decided to join their discussion found himself quite surprised by the presence of someone whom is not supposed to be attending this impending class of theirs.

"Ricardo? What are you doing here? I thought you're not taking this class until next semester?" Yuuri asked, raising his eyebrows up in surprise as he took in the presence of the guy that is two years their junior.

"I'm not taking the class per say, I'm just here to gossip. And since I overheard the discussion between you and your friends, I decided to make my presence known since I'm quite a fan of your performance." Ricardo was telling Yuuri that causes Yuuri to flush an adorable shade of red.

"Well… if you really must know, I haven't decided anything for next year yet. I guess it ultimately will depends on whether or not I'll be graduating in March of the coming year. I'm hoping of course for the positive, but one can never be so sure of it. Seeing as the competition will take place in May, if I am going to be graduating next March… I seriously doubt I would be entering the competition on behalf of the school." Yuuri eventually responded after taking some moment to consider his response.

"I see… oh well, I'll just have to wait and see how it folds out then. Right, and Shinomiya – I have the CD you want for your project or whatsoever. My sister said to inform you that you owe her big-time for this." Ricardo then whipped a CD out from his backpack and hands it over to Shinomiya Kanade.

"…" There was a moment of delay as the two Shinomiya siblings glanced at one another before turning their glance onto Ricardo, and asked in unison. "I'm afraid that you are going to be a bit more clear on this, which of us are you speaking to?"

"Erm… wait let me double check." Ricardo said, and hurried to look down onto the CD casing that comes with a note attached before looking back up at them and replied. "It says down here it's for the both of you, so I guess the both of you simply had to listen to the tracks in here and decide among yourselves whom gets what tracks in it."

"Alright then, hand it over to us and you can start going back to your own class. The lecturer is coming, and it would not do for her to catch you in here." Shinomiya Kanade said as he reached over to take the CD away from Ricardo before shooing the guy off in a dismissing manner.

Once Ricardo departed from their classroom, Yuuri turned towards Kanade and asked. "Is that the music for our project?"

Kanade glanced down at the CD in hand and nodded in affirmation, "Yes… I would think so, but I would need to listen to it first and separate out the music tracks that has nothing to do with the project first. I should have remember to tell that girl to split the music commissioned into two separate CD… I'd completely forgotten that she did music consignment for both of us."

The lecturer entry to the class put a significant stop to all their ongoing conversation as they shifted their attention back to the front of the room, deciding to leave the topic of their project discussion until later.

It was after lunch hour that the group meet up again, this time in the lounge area of the school dormitory. Apparently, anywhere else they risked the possibility of having the Shinomiya brothers swamped by swooning fan-girls of theirs.

"Are you sure we can meet in here? We aren't exactly a fellow resident of the dorm…" Kanade was a little apprehensive with the idea of stepping foot into the dormitory building.

"It's fine, so long you don't leave behind a mess… the caretaker of the dorm won't really care. After all, the Detroit Skating Club members tends to have get-togethers over here in the lounge as well, and not everyone in the skating club resides on campus." Yuuri hurried to re-assure, this is the only place he could think of that fan-girls would not be able to creep in on them.

The lounge was rather empty of activity at this hour of time, and so the group settled themselves comfortably on the sofa seats with their notes and outlines for the project spread before them on the coffee table and ready themselves for the discussion to come. Yuuri was first updated on the progress the trio had done or decided during the week whereby he's away for Skate America, before they moved on to their agenda for this week.

"Right, so the script is half-way done by now. At least Act 1 is ready, we are just missing Act 2 and then it's ready to start the rehearsals. As for the music, it's finally here but I need to sort them out first so probably we can decide when to hold the audition for the musical by next week. Dance steps can be choreograph on the go after we'd confirmed our performers list so no need to fret just yet." Kanade added the last part when Yuuri started to look nervous over the idea of choreographing the dance steps for the musical project.

"Okay… right, and how many main cast are there?" Yuuri asked, turning towards Kawada Yuki eager to have the dance choreography pushed to the back of his mind for now.

"Well… for starters' I'm aiming for six main casts, and looking at about twenty supporting maybe? As for the genders, most likely three males and three females. I'll need someone to play the role of the dean of the school which the musical is set to play out, a role for the trainer is also needed, and then two young men to play the role of Steven and Leroy, and two young ladies to play the role of Julia and Hannah. Of course the names are subjected to change following the end of the audition but for now these are the tentative arrangements." Kawada Yuki was informing the rest of the group members as she passes out her copy of the drafted script for their reference.

"Guys, we are still doing the musical on the ice right? If so, should I start taking the initiative to speak with the rink management about renting the venue for the musical?" Yuuri asked somewhat hesitantly after flipping through the half-completed script in his hands, the sight of the script makes everything more real in his eyes.

"Yes, that would be great if you can assist in that department because seriously we don't really know who to approach for the rental of the rink… because the administrative staff said that the rink is not operated by the school, so we're not really sure on how to proceed with the paperwork pertaining to that." Kanade agreed readily, beaming at Yuuri even when the Japanese skater brought up the subject for discussion.

"… Right, I'll handle that paperwork for us then. Also, since it's going to be on the ice… maybe we can look into the idea of doing a collaboration work with the Detroit Skating Club? I mean, the ability to ice-skate is not something you can train up in a few months… so maybe we can have the audition held within members of the Detroit Skating Club? Of course, we can open the audition up for normal students as well but one of the main requisite is that they should have the ability to ice-skate." Yuuri started, sounding more confident as the minute passes by with no one speaking up to contradict his point.

"That's a good idea actually… shall we go with Yuuri's suggestion then?" Kanade ponders for a minute, before calling for a general vote among themselves.

With no objections after the vote, Yuuri was assigned the task of handling the paperwork pertaining to the rental of the rink for their performance in March next year as well as speaking to his coach Celestino about the collaboration between the Detroit Skating Club and them for the musical.

"Phichit…are you busy at the moment?" Yuuri had asked, sometime later when he was sitting up in bed contemplating on how to broach the subject to Celestino when he thought to seek Phichit opinion on the issue.

"Not really, just checking out the response to my earlier instagram posts… why?" Phichit had responded, looking over to Yuuri slightly before shifting his eyes back onto his phone's screen.

"You are aware that I'm in the midst of my final year project right?" Yuuri started, somewhat apprehensively.

"Erm…yeah, I think so… speaking of, what's the project going to be?" Phichit paused for a moment as he thought about it, before responding.

"Ah…well… it's a musical, and erm… the lecturer wants us to do something out of the norm so we were thinking instead of doing it on stage we are going to do it on the ice instead." Yuuri hurried to get his words out before he could chicken out on the idea.

There was a moment of silence, before Phichit snapped his eyes up and turned towards Yuuri so fast that Yuuri was kind of worried that Phichit might end up spraining his neck.

"WHAT?! A Musical on Ice?! Seriously?! Is it going to be something like the Disney on Ice thing?!" Phichit asked, his eyes lighting up with excitement.

"Well… it's obviously not going to be Disney on Ice since we are not doing any adaptations from Disney production. Otherwise, I should think the general idea of it being similar enough… anyway, I was thinking of speaking with Celestino about doing a collaboration between the Skating Club and my group for the project. Do you think Celestino would be okay with the idea?" Yuuri asked, genuinely seeking Phichit's opinion on the matter.

"I think Celestino would not be objecting to the idea of it… and if he do, you can always bypass him and speak to the coaches in charge of the novices class at the rink. I bet those coaches would be quite interested in the project, this is after all quite an opportunity for those novices to get a taste of how it would feel to be involved in an ice-show performance. Speaking of, is there going to be ice-dancing in it?" Phichit then asked, looking at Yuuri earnestly as he awaited a response from the fellow Japanese skater.

"… Ice dancing eh… I'm not sure yet, I haven't had the chance to listen to the music and I'll need to look at the audition outcome before I can decide. I'll keep you posted on the updates." Yuuri said, before putting down Phichit's remark of ice-dancing on his notebook and draw a question mark right next to it so he would remember to consider the option later when he starts working on the choreography for the musical.

"Please do! Hm..m… let's see, where's Ciao Ciao right now?" Phichit then started to skim through his contact list for Celestino number and then immediately started to draft a text message asking for him to meet with Yuuri slightly earlier before tomorrow official rink time.

"…" Yuuri sweat-dropped as he received a text message from Celestino soon after, asking him what he had in mind to discuss with him because Phichit had text him minute ago with a message that Yuuri wanted to speak with him.

To Celestino: Yes, I have something to speak with you about but not exactly related to my programs hence I don't want to bring it up during official practice time at the rink.

To Yuuri: In that case, maybe we can meet at the café near the rink around 7 am tomorrow?

To Celestino: That'll work. Thank You & Good Night.

To Yuuri: Great, I'll see you tomorrow at the café then, Ciao Ciao!"

~ to be continued~

Date Completed: 11/3/17.


	15. Chapter 15

Summary: In which Viktor continues his explore of Yuuri's wikipedia page, before finally giving Yuuri a call because he was too curious to wait until later to ask.

Chapter 15

Viktor Nikiforov misses Yuuri very much, but after his stunt pulled at the Vancouver airport following the end of Skate Canada… Yakov literally train him to the optimum level of his exhaustion following his return to Russia, Saint Petersburg from Miami, Florida state of America. His training session at his home rink left him so tired that he ended up being unable to fit in any skype session with his beloved Yuuri.

The time difference between Saint Petersburg and Detroit did not helped matters either, their usual hour reserved for skype does not works because while Viktor is not due for practice at the rink yet… Yuuri would be in the midst of one of his project discussion meetings that tend to run from after dinner around 7 pm to about 9 or 10 pm, Detroit time. By the time Yuuri's done with project meeting, its Viktor turn to be busy with his training session under Yakov. When it was time for Viktor to be free, Yuuri's the one busy with either school or training at the Detroit home rink with Celestino.

Therefore, after another day of hard training at the rink… Viktor had arrived back to his apartment with a set of take-out dinner from the Japanese restaurant near his home-rink that sells the pork cutlets rice. While the pork cutlets rice in Saint Petersburg was nowhere near the standards of Yuuri's version of Katsudon, let alone the authentic Katsudon prepared by Yuuri's mother – Hiroko Katsuki… Viktor decided that it would do for now.

"Makkachin… looks like it's you and me again for tonight." Viktor sighed, as he cuddles with his beloved poodle for a few minutes before he decided to head for a shower before settling down in front of his laptop with his dinner take-out of the pork cutlet rice, Saint Petersburg version. His evening past-time for today would be going through the rest of the information listed on Yuuri's Wikipedia page.

Now that he comes to think of it, he had never actually sat down and read through Yuuri's profile on Wikipedia before. The last time around, after that video of Yuuri's skating to his 'Aria – Stay Close to Me' … when he was doing his research on the man, he had leaps straight for Yuuri's data from the ISU data-bank and when the information proved to be insufficient he had turn to google Yuuri Katsuki on-line instead. Although, the link to Yuuri's musician profile page on Wikipedia has also shown up but he hadn't paid it any attention back then since he didn't know the two Yuuri Katsuki were one of the same person and thus he leaps straight for the figure skater Yuuri Katsuki Wikipedia page instead.

Granted, the two pages were linked to one another but it wasn't standing out enough to catch Viktor's attention. At least that was what happened at that point of time because Viktor was far more interested in finding out about Yuuri's skating abilities than other talents. Now though, Viktor had to admit his interest was piqued especially after that enlightening conversation with Phichit on the Face-book messenger.

From the page, Viktor found that Yuuri had first started his music journey by learning piano under the guidance of his late grandmother off the maternal side of his family. The late Onoda Mikako, Yuuri's maternal grand-mother was apparently a graduate from the Nagoya College of Music majoring in Piano. According to the Wikipedia, apparently when Yuuri was young he was quite sensitive to music and tends to reacts well to the rhythms of any music tunes played around his range of hearing.

This little trait of Yuuri was discovered by Onoda Mikako one day when she was asked to babysit Yuuri and his elder sister, Mari. So when Yuuri was three years old, Onoda Mikako had taken it upon herself to start teaching Yuuri piano. Being an introvert, Yuuri is not that good at expressing himself with words and so playing the piano had became one of his way at expressing himself. However, due to the nature of Mikako's teaching style tends to be on an one on one basis, it also means that Yuuri had a lack of opportunities to mingle with other kids his age. Therefore, when Yuuri turns five years old – with Mari's decision to drop her ballet training, the Katsuki family decided to enroll him in Okukawa Minako's ballet studio taking his sister's place instead.

Based on what the Wikipedia had said, it was under Okukawa Minako urging that Yuuri later progresses on to take up figure skating in a competitive manner. That and the idea of having Yuuri choosing the Saga Chiekan Junior/Senior School Wind Band as his after-school club activity is very much influence by Okukawa Minako as well. Although, by that point of time Yuuri was pretty much heavily involved in figure-skating as it is, but as the school does not have a figure skating club and it is part of the school rules that every student of theirs is to involve in an after-school club activity… Yuuri had to go for something that is listed as part of the school's extra-curriculum program as it contributes a significant portion to his further academic progression path.

By joining the school wind band, it forces him to drop piano as his main musical instrument and start taking up lessons for flute outside of his regular school hours. With his figure skating training taking up the majority of his free time, he would have no time to learn and master his flute unless he was to sacrifice what time he had devoted to his piano classes for the time-being. By then his maternal grand-mother was already quite old and frail that she is no longer giving piano lessons to Yuuri, and so when Yuuri brought his dilemma to Onoda Mikako for advice… the latter had then referred Yuuri to one of her protégé – Serizawa Chieko that is well versed in both Piano and Flute and had recently graduated from one of the famous music institution overseas.

Serizawa Chieko in turn set up a private music classroom for herself using her sound-proof apartment unit in Saga city as a home base of operation, and started earning a living for herself. Yuuri was her first student upon her return to Japan from her overseas training in the music department, and so Yuuri spend his summer vacation from his Junior and Senior years of high school staying with Serizawa at her apartment unit and practically spend most of his time learning, practicing and familiarizing himself with both the flute and the piano.

There was nothing much about how Yuuri managed to juggle both his music and skating activities throughout the period of his hectic competition schedule, and this in particular was tempting Viktor to call Yuuri up to find out more. What the Wikipedia has to offer simply wasn't even to fill Viktor in on the big picture, both pages had just gave the readers a general background of Yuuri's start in music and figure skating and how Yuuri had excel in both fields before the whole list of competitions taken part had took over the page, followed by the achievements received.

A quick glance at the time reflected on his laptop screen had Viktor making a grab for his phone dialing Yuuri up using the voice call function instead of the video call. Reason for using voice call and not video call is primarily because Viktor remembered that Yuuri had specifically order for him not to video call him when he's busy with school work because the sight of Viktor's face on screen would distract him to the point of not being able to concentrate.

Granted if Yuuri happens to be around, he would have easily admitted the voice of Viktor could easily distracted him from his tasks at hand as well but the effects would be tame compared to the sight of Viktor's appearance tends to do to him.

Yuuri answered the call promptly by its third ring, Viktor gathered from the tone Yuuri had used when answering the call that the Asian man was tired. Still, there have been quite some days since Viktor had the chance of hearing Yuuri's voice next to his ears so he wasn't willing to hang up just yet. They spend a few moments flirting with one another through the phone whispering to one another words of affections before Viktor finally had it in him to get to the point behind this particular call of his.

"Yuuri~~~ I was just looking at your Wikipedia page, you know?" Viktor started in a teasing tone of voice, and waited mentally for Yuuri to react accordingly.

"… Pray tell why the sudden desire to go in search for my Wikipedia profile?" Yuuri sighed after a long moment of silence, and while Viktor is unable to see the man currently on the other end of the line – he knew enough to gauge that Yuuri was most likely hiding his face behind his free hand that is not holding the phone by now.

"Well… I had an interesting conversation with Phichit some days ago via the Face-book and he told me you are doing a double major in dance and music… after I chanced upon a picture of you playing the flute I simply cannot resist the temptation to research you on-line about it." Viktor exclaimed, sounding absolutely excited.

"… Alright, fine… I'll fill you in on the blanks, what do you have in mind to ask." Yuuri paused for a bit and then Viktor heard a snort coming from the other end of the line, and gathered enough to know that Phichit must have been in the same room as Yuuri and that was apparently the Thai skater reaction in response to something Yuuri had done.

"I noticed from your Wikipedia page that some of your competitions overlapped one another, and some of them are practically back to back with only several days in between. How did you cope without breaking apart?" Viktor asked, sounding quite interested and concern at the same time.

"Hm..m… I am going to assume that you are referring to the period from 2005 to 2010, in specific my high school years – correct?" Yuuri took a moment to consider before recalling the few of his most hectic years that he'd considered of his life.

"Well… yeah, I think so?" Viktor said as he went back to check on the dates of Yuuri's competition before nodding in affirmation, despite the fact that Yuuri probably couldn't see him since this is a voice call and not a video call.

"Right, first of all I make sure to set aside two hours each on a daily basis for my figure skating training on the rink during school term session and then up it to four hours rink time in the vacation period to keep myself from getting rusty in my routines. Secondly, I lessen my piano practice hours in the year of 2005 so I could train up and familiarize myself with the instrument flute in time to participate in the All Japan Bands Competition. Seeing as school started in April, and the first competition is in May for the Prefecture Competition round – I only had like a month to get ready, which is of course impossible for me to do even with my strong background in music. So I sit out on the competition for the first year, and it would have remained perfectly the case but it just so happens that one of the flute players in the band had accidentally injured himself and I had to stand in for him when the Nationals came upon us in November of that year. It's also quite lucky that I was assigned with the earlier session of the qualifying tournament for Junior Grand Prix that season which took place in September, and the finals although is also in the month of November does not happens until the month end which allows me to first take part in the All Japan Bands Competition Nationals in mid-November before hurrying to fly over to Czech Republic for the JGP Finals taking place from November 24 to 27. " Yuuri responded, as he quoted his experience from the 2005-2006 seasons in his junior days.

"Wow… that's very rush, isn't it? Was that the reason why you sit out of the Nationals round for the Band competition for the rest of your high school years?" Viktor questions next, but that still leave Yuuri completely swamped in the earlier half of the year since majority of the competition for music genre tends to take place during the spring season.

"Partly...basically after my experience in 2005 I told my school specifically that I would not be taking part in the Nationals for the school band competitions because my skating career comes first before anything else. Although I allowed myself to be placed on the reserve list for Nationals if the dates for the Junior Grand Prix Finals and the Nationals for the school band competition did not clash directly on paper documents that is. But ultimately, if I were to quote which is my most taxing year in my life it would be the year 2010 whereby I'm trying to secure myself a scholarship for my college course of study by taking part in as many competition as I could in the music department and also to juggle my last year of competition in the Junior level of the Grand Prix Series." Yuuri admitted when he thought back to the year prior to his arriving in Detroit to train with Celestino, that was a year of experience that he would not wish to repeat anytime soon. So in hindsight, he decided that it was quite lucky of him to return to his past at this point of time which is months before his Sochi GPF than to be thrown back further into the past of his junior competitive days because that would be a bigger night-mare to deal with than what he was dealing right now.

Viktor took a look at the mentioned year of Yuuri's competition from both pages and had to admit it does looks a bit scary from his opinions. Yuuri had to prepare for both the Sendai International Music Competition and the Nishinihon International Competition audition round of selection that will took place generally in April, and that in addition to the school band competition pieces he had to prepare a total of six pieces for his music competitions that runs from April 2010 to July 2010.

Sendai International Music Competition is open to the piano and violin category only, and so Yuuri is entering under the piano category whereas for the Nishinihon International competition he would be entering for the flute under the wind instrument category. Two music competitions with different choice of instrument meant a total of four songs, among them two of which are set pieces stipulated by the organizers of the competitions and the other two are free choice from the contestants. Then, there is the school band competition piece which consists of two pieces and like the solo competition – it involved one set piece selected by the organizer and one free choice which is in this situation selected by the band instructor.

The Nishinihon International Competition will have its first round of competition in April, and the contestants who managed to get through the first round will then progresses on to compete in June for the final round of competition. The Sendai International Music Competition meanwhile took place over the period of May to June of 2010, and then the school band competition held its first round of competition (Prefecture) in May, and then the Regional in July.

Then Yuuri had to train for his impending Junior Grand Prix Series which he was assigned the Cup of Austria (September 15 to 19) and the Czech Skate (October 13 to 17) which he somehow fail to do well enough to qualify for the finals that particular season which Viktor would deem it disappointing if he hadn't knows about Yuuri other competitions taking place in that same year.

"… Seriously, how did you managed to cope? Where did you find all that time for your training and practice whatsoever?" Viktor could not help but ask.

"No idea, but I think that should be the only year that my anxiety level fails to act up prior to my competitions… because I was near running on empty tank that I simply do not have the energy to fret anymore. Although, judging from the outcome I wasn't surprise for not making the podium for either of my qualifying tournament for the Junior Grand Prix despite it being my last season competing in the Junior level… oh, just so you would know… I'm also having my growing pains then." Yuuri added as an afterthought when he thought back to his performance in the Czech Skate.

"So was anyone in particularly disappointed with your failure to make it into the finals for your last Junior Grand Prix seasons?" Viktor while certain that no one would blame Yuuri, but still he wonders knowing for a fact that Yuuri had the tendency to blame himself where his failures occurs.

"Not really... it's a given that my family members and friends alike would not blame me for it because they knew how taxing that particular year has been for me. Well, I supposed my coach for figure skating is somewhat disappointed by the fact but since she also understand my plight she didn't comment on anything besides while I addressed her as my coach, we didn't really have any contract within us that clearly states so. She's only my coach in name and on official document for the ISU since I need to name a coach in order to take part in the official competitions." Yuuri responded with a sigh, as he revealed to Viktor yet another fact that the man hadn't knew before now.

"Eh?! You mean it's not Minako that you listed as your coach for your ISU organized competitions back in your junior days?" Almost immediately, Viktor's exclamation was heard over the connection causing Yuuri to bring the phone inches away from his ear to avoid being annoyed by the high pitching voice coming from the phone over the connection.

"Of course not... I listed Minako as my choreographer instead, because despite the fact that it was Minako whom got me into competitive skating... she's a ballerina with no experience in skating herself. Thankfully though, one of the resident coaches at Ice Castle Hasetsu back then had some competition background in the novice and junior levels under the ladies category back in her teen's days. In fact, I was assigned to her charge when I first started to go for figure skating lessons at Ice Castle Hasetsu so when I decided to go into competitive skating she's the first person I went to for assistance." Yuuri explained.

"Oh... and who's this person then? Have I ever met her in person before?" Viktor piped up, sounding incredibly curious.

Yuuri took a moment to consider before responding, "No... I don't think you'd met her in person before, Viktor... she wasn't residing in Hasetsu anymore from what I've known. As you knows the tourism business was on a decline for Hasetsu, and so was the population residing in the area. With the downsizing of the population, there is no need to keep more than one coach around at Ice Castle Hasetsu so Tsukishiro Asami, that's the name of my coach registered with ISU during my junior days left the town of Hasetsu behind and proceeds to set up another branch of Ice Castle in the city area of Saga."

"Wait... there's another branch of Ice Castle? I thought that's a family owned operated ice rink?" Viktor blinked in bewilderment as he voiced his doubt across.

"It is family owned... the Nishigori's own it now... but it actually belongs to the Tsukishiro group on the management accounts. How do you suppose it kept itself afloat with the dwindling business in Hasetsu itself? My coach from the junior days – Tsukishiro Asami, is the heiress to the Tsukishiro group which main areas of business activities lay in fields of sports management. They co-owned several training gyms in Japan with external investor partners, manufactured the lower to mid-range sport gears that most students in Japan needed for their club activities in one way or another. If you had taken a closer look at the rental skates made available to the general public at Ice Castle Hasetsu before, you would have noticed that they had all originated from the Tsukishiro group." Yuuri further explained his previous statement, hoping to give Viktor a clearer picture of the history of their home rink in Hasetsu, Japan.

"Oh... so that's why you listed Tsukishiro group as one of your sponsors in your ISU database, I had wondered about it for quite a while what they sponsored you with... at least the mystery is solve now. You're actually referring to your free use of the rink at any hours of the day back in Hasetsu...aren't you?"

Yuuri made some non-committal sound of agreement on the other end of the line in response to Viktor's words, which Viktor took it as a 'yes' to his earlier question. After a while, Yuuri let out a stifled yawn and asked.

"Are there any more urgent questions, if there aren't any at the moment can we please call it a day? I don't know about you, but I desperately need to nap before my next class begins. I was up half the night before compiling research data on the baroque period needed for my music theory class, because I'd completely forgotten about it until one of my classmate reminded me of it so really... I need to catch some winks before I injured myself during the afternoon practice at the rink." Yuuri sounded somewhat embarrassed over the line, he must have really debated over the issue for the past thirty minutes or so before he finally broaches the subject to Viktor.

Upon Yuuri's words, Viktor hurried to sneak another look at the timing reflected on his laptop screen and gasped. It was now 10 pm at Russia, Saint Petersburg and that makes it 2 pm in Michigan Detroit where Yuuri was...

"Alright... sorry if I took up too much of your napping time, so sorry about it. Next time, if you're too tired to talk please let me know okay? My questions can always wait until later; it's not anything urgent anyway." Viktor was telling Yuuri before he finally made the decision to end the call between them, knowing that Yuuri would be hesitant about hanging up on him without a dozen words of apologies being directed towards him.

~to be continued~

Date completed: 12/3/17.

End Notes: In case anyone is interested, below is the list of music competition Yuuri participated in that was listed in his Wikipedia page :P

1999 - PTNA Piano STEP for young musicians (Piano), Japan Kyuushu Saga City  
2000 - PTNA Piano Competition for young musicians (Piano), Japan Tokyo (Finals)  
2000 - International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in Paris, France.  
2004 - International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians,(Piano) Kurashiki Japan (March 3 to 21)  
2004 - The 2nd Sendai International Music Competition (Piano), Japan Sendai City (June 5 to June 18).  
2005 - All Japan Bands Competition Nationals Tournament (Saga Chiekan Junior High Wind Band) in mid-November.  
2006 - All Japan Bands Competition Prefecture Tournament in May 2006, Regional Tournament in July.  
2007 - All Japan Bands Competition Prefecture Tournament in May 2007, Regional Tournament in July.  
2008 - Nishinihon International Music Competition Winds Category (Flute) on April 10 - 11 (1st round), June 12 (Finals) in Fukuoka Japan.  
2008 - All Japan Bands Competition, High School Category (Chiekan Senior High Wind Band) Prefecture Tournament in May, Regional in July.  
2009 - Nishinihon International Music Competition Winds Category (Flute) in Fukuoka, Japan  
2009 - All Japan Bands Competition, High School Category Prefecture Tournament in May, Regional in July.  
2010 - The 2nd Takamatsu International Piano Competition in March 2010.  
2010 - Nishinihon International Music Competition Wind Category (Flute) 1st round in April, Fukuoka Japan  
2010 - All Japan Bands Competition, High School Category Prefecture Tournament in May  
2010 - Nishinihon International Music Competition Wind Category (Flute) finals in June, Fukuoka Japan  
2010 - The 4th Sendai International Music Competition (Piano) in June, Sendai City, Japan.  
2010 - All Japan Bands Competition, High School Category Regional Tournament in July.  
2011 to 2013 - Andrejs Jurjans International Wind Competition (Takes place in October) representing college in Detroit  
2011 to 2015 - Represented college in Detroit for the American Protege International Woodwinds & Brass Competition taking place in New York  
2015 - Took part in the global online competition for classical performer – ENKOR Competition

Yep, so 2010 is very scary year to look at :P I did not include Yuuri's skating competition into it yet... don't have the time to outline all of that and fit them into it.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"So how is it?! Did Ciao Ciao agree?" Phichit piped up immediately, when Yuuri appeared in the home rink of the Detroit Skating Club fully dressed in his training gears.

"Yes, he did and he says he will speak with the other coaches later on but for now we are to keep things quiet among ourselves first. He doesn't want to cause any commotion before he spoke with the other coaches." Yuuri explained, taking in the sight of Phichit's jubilant expression with a smile of his own. Somehow the sight of Phichit being so over-joy by the idea of the musical collaboration caused Yuuri to push his inner worries about the musical to the very back of his mind.

"Oh…" Phichit let out a deflated sigh as he put away his phone, to which Yuuri merely lifted an eyebrow in reaction as he commented dryly.

"Really, Phichit? You were going to post about it? You are aware that this musical is not just a musical but also a final year project for me, don't you? So in essence, my group members and I should be the one doing the marketing and promoting for the musical… if you post anything about it, how should we be graded on the marketing factor?"

"…Oops, I guess I forgot about that for a second… but does it means that I can't post anything on my instagram account then?" Phichit cocked his head to the side slightly, as he seeks clarification from Yuuri.

"You cannot post it first hand, but you can repost/re-blog/re-tweet it from either one of our social media accounts when we finally make an announcement about it." Yuuri pause for a moment to consider before he responded to Phichit's query.

"…Does that means that you are going to be updating your seldom-ly used social media accounts then?" Phichit turn around and face Yuuri as he voiced his question aloud.

"Yes…you got that right." Yuuri nodded in affirmation.

"Okay… but one question, are you doing it on your official account or your private account?" Phichit asks next.

"… You know, that's actually a good question. I'll get back to you later on it." Yuuri responded, he needs to discuss it with the rest of his group members.

"Just remember to get back to me on it, now I thought you had an appointment with the rink management office? Something about the rental of usage for the rink?" Phichit reminded when a glance on his phone screen inform him that time is ticking away.

"Right, I better hurry along then. See you later." Yuuri said as he hurry his way over to where the management office was situated.

The meeting took an hour between Yuuri and the rink management team members, and to be honest if it weren't for the fact that Yuuri was mentally twenty years mature than his old self… he highly doubt he would be able to speak with the management crew of the rink at all. Imagine every office members' eyes on him the moment he stepped through the door that separates the working personnel and the rest of the patrons?! The old him would have turnabout and flee the area, but all he did at that point of time was to push aside his fear and insecurity and focus solely on his objective for the visit.

"Right, for the rental of the facility which in this case refers to the rink… you just have to fill up this form and submit them to us as soon as possible together with the stipulated rental amount, as well as a security deposit amount. The security deposit would be refunded to you at the end of the event if we determines that nothing has been damaged during the course of your event's usage. I would also include a set of information pertaining to the rental of the facility to you, please go through it thoroughly with your group members. We can discuss further details pertaining to the events after the submission of the paperwork for the rental." The manager in charge of the rink was telling Yuuri as he was being handed a set of documents over the work desk the person was situated behind.

"Understood, I will go over it with the rest of my group members and get back to you as soon as possible." Yuuri thanked the manager for the time taken to share with him the proper procedures for the rental and took the information package together with the forms given as he left the office to head back to the locker room. He needed to put these things away before he could enter the rink for his regular practice anyway.

As Yuuri entered the rink, he was greeted by a cheerful wave coming from Phichit which he acknowledge back with a small smile of his own before heading his way towards his coach – Celestino.

"Ah, Yuuri… there you are!" Celestino looks up from whatever he was reading and greeted Yuuri as the Japanese skater approaches.

"Good morning, Celestino. So what do you have in mind for us to work on today?" Yuuri asked, pushing away thought that doesn't relates to his skating for the time-being.

"I was just looking at your last exhibition video for Skate America, and what would you say if we fine tuned it and makes it your official exhibition skate program for this season?" Celestino suggested, he knew Yuuri had the tendency to shy away from topics that tends to be pressurizing but the topic of an exhibition is bound to come up every now and then. While there is still time to throw another program together for the exhibition, Celestino thought it would be more productive to work on something that they already had instead of creating a new program from scratch and hence this particular question.

"Oh…" Yuuri thought about it for a minute before he slowly look back up at Celestino and nodded his agreement to the Italian coach. "Well, I have no objections to making that song my exhibition program and I supposed in some ways it did fits… what's with my impending graduation from college and all."

There was an unspoken 'our contract is also coming to an end following the Sochi GPF' that hung between them, but neither of them touches upon the topic as of yet. Both Yuuri and Celestino seems to have it in mind to only speak of the issue when they arrives at the deadline of the contract before deciding if they were to renew it or to go their separate way after their contract ended.

Another reason that Yuuri decided to go with his exhibition music for Skate America is that he could not remember what song he had used for the NHK Trophy exhibition in his previous life-time. Tried as he might, his mind just drew a blank on it… he thought it was his mind way of dealing with the aftermath of bombing everything from the Sochi GPF to the Japanese Nationals in such an embarrassing manner. It was so mortifying that Yuuri's mind had simply decided that it's better to forget everything that has to do with that embarrassing season of his, and since he did hide himself away from the world for the month that follows he could not really argue with his mind's logic that forgetting everything that leads up to Sochi is the best way to go about things.

"So the exhibition… is that all you wants to work on for today?" Yuuri asked as he started his warm up in the rink.

"Well… there's nothing much we can work on with your short program, it's solid enough as it is. As for your free skate, we have already been working on fine-tuning it. If only you could perform the same way as you do during regular practice for your competition, everything would turns out in a good way but you knows as much as I do that you can't promise anything on it." Celestino sighed inwardly as he told Yuuri, he was really out of wits when it comes down to dealing with Yuuri's crippling anxiety nerves. His methods of calming students down before competitions simply doesn't works on Yuuri, and he doesn't know what else he could do to help deal with Yuuri's nerves.

"…Sorry." That was all Yuuri could have managed in response to Celestino's words, seeing as it wasn't wrong. He couldn't really help it when his anxiety acts up prior to a competition, and even now with twenty years of experience under his belt sometimes it still happens. When it happens and Viktor happens to be around, the Russian would dragged him off elsewhere and do something that distracts him usually with hugs and kisses which usually tends to make him feel better. However, not every time Viktor would be around to assist him especially during the times whereby Viktor and him were both competing in different tournaments. So eventually Yuuri find his own ways to deal with his anxiety attacks before competitions, but all these Celestino had no idea about. Hence Yuuri remained silent when Celestino was speaking and only responded back with a muffled word of apology when the man finished speaking.

They spend the next hour on the rink working on fine-tuning the exhibition skate, and then spend the next half hour running through Yuuri's free skate routine and the last hour with Yuuri working on perfecting his quad salchow. So far Yuuri had managed to land it three times out of the five attempts, but that is not good enough for Yuuri's standard because he knew he could do it flawlessly. However, Yuuri also knew when to quit … so when the regular two hours of rink time was up, Yuuri stepped off the ice voluntarily drawing both Phichit and Celestino's curious eyes on him.

"It's been two hours, time for a break. Besides, I have a forty five minutes block booked in with the arts center for the use of their music room." Yuuri responded as he started to swap his skates for his sneakers.

"Huh? You booked in a session for music practice in between the regular rink time? Are you nuts? The journey between the two building would takes up 15 minutes of the time and your next rink hour was schedule in an hour's time, how are you going to make it back in time?" Phichit exclaimed as he stared at Yuuri as though he was seeing something exotic species of animal in front of him.

"True, it takes 15 minutes if one were to walk over at regular speed but one could easily make it over in 5 minutes if they run and took all the short-cuts available along the path." Yuuri smirked before throwing a word over his shoulder to Phichit informing the fellow Thai skater to keep his skates in the locker for him before grabbing his backpack and made a mad dash for the building exit with every intention to run over to the arts center.

"Hi Amelia, I didn't keep you waiting for long – did I?" Yuuri asked as he breeze into the music room like a gust of wind, his breathing even and not at all panting.

"No… but did you make your way over by running?" Amelia Kwok, a fellow classmate of Yuuri in his music performance class asks as she turned around to survey the Japanese.

"Well, I did inform you that I would be in between my training break at the rink… didn't I?" Yuuri responded wryly as he flexed his fingers automatically before readying them onto the black and white keys of the piano.

"That you did, and I apologized for spring this up on you but my usual pianist has some family emergency and is unable to assist me for the impending graduation performance. But are you sure you're alright with doing the piano accompaniment for me? You do have your own flute performance to prepare for the graduating concert as well… and you also had that final year project that seems to be a lot of work as compared to what my group is doing…" Amelia Kwok was commenting as she started preparing her violin for the rehearsal session.

"It's fine, my flute performance lined up was towards the end of the concert whereas yours is in the first half of the concert. I'm sure I can managed well enough with the time gap in between… now what was your group doing for the final year project?" Yuuri asked as he tried out several keys on the piano and getting Amelia to tune her violin in accordance to the piano, so it won't sound awkward later when they combined both the piano and violin parts together.

"We are going to be putting up an outdoor concert for the student body to enjoy, that's the general idea but we haven't had the date fixed yet." Amelia responded with a shrug, before drawing the conversation to a close by nodding towards Yuuri that she's ready whenever he is.

"Before we begin, can I just double confirm your performance item? You are doing Frederic Chopin – Etude No. 3 in E Major, Opus 10 'Tristesse' right?" Yuuri double clarify the music piece before starting to play on the piano.

"Yes, that's the one. You have the score for it?" Amelia questions, as she called in Yuuri for help on a last minute she wasn't sure if Yuuri knew how the piece goes.

"Yes, I have the score… looked it up immediately last night when you call me for assistance." Yuuri responded, and at the count of three he started playing on the piano.

Without even the need to prompt, Amelia joined in with her violin at the correct point of entry which makes Yuuri's task of piano accompaniment very smooth. Amelia, being a graduating student majoring in Violin is not an average violinist – the execution of the performance was as flawless as it goes for a first time combination rehearsal between a pianist and the violinist.

"You're doing great, and at the rate I supposed we don't even need a lot of time on the rehearsal… probably just a thirty minutes on a weekly basis leading up to the concert would do." Yuuri was saying when the forty five minutes booking session was up, to which Amelia merely smiled and thank Yuuri again for agreeing to do the piano accompaniment for her since she's quite aware that Yuuri was rather busy for the next few months to come.

"It's fine, piano accompaniment is nothing new to me. I've done it quite a few times back in Japan when requested of me, a lot of my classmates request me to do their accompaniment for their exams when they realized I was proficient in both piano and flute performance." Yuuri responded, waving off Amelia apology easily enough.

After a relaxing round of piano playing, Yuuri ventured back to the rink with new found determination to perfect his quad salchow which he then proceed to execute it perfectly. It wasn't flawless yet but he at least managed to land each and every one of his quad salchow attempted. Satisfied with his results, he decided to call it a day for his training and make some time to call his family back in Japan after dinner instead. It has been a week since he checked in on them and Vic-chan, he had to make sure his mother did not cave in to Vic-chan adorable puppy eyes and start feeding him scrapes of Katsudon left-over again. Vic-chan is already obese enough as it is, and to make sure Vic-chan will lives… Yuuri had to make sure that nobody went against the vet's advice.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 13/3/17.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

It was three days before the Cup of China took place, and Viktor Nikiforov had just arrived at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport with his coach Yakov Feltsman and his fellow rink-mate cum competitor Georgi Popovich in tow. Speaking of which, Georgi's luck when it comes down to the assignment for Grand Prix Series tournament has never been too great… and this time around the man has been assigned to both Skate Canada and Cup of China together with Viktor. No wonder Georgi has always been foreshadowed by him, because there is never truly a time for people to notice Georgi with Viktor competing in the same tournament.

While Yakov was busy with the hotel check-in procedures, Viktor pulled his phone out of his coat's pocket and started sending messages to Yuuri, starting with a report of his arrival in Shanghai, China.

To Yuuri: I'm in China, Shanghai! Cup of China starts in three days! Wish me luck! 333

To Viktor: Good luck, I'll be cheering you on in spirit since I can't be there for you :D

To Yuuri: You're not coming by to see me in action? =(

To Viktor: [Send picture of schedule for October] With this kind of schedule, do you think it possible? *deadpan look*

To Yuuri: O_O||| That looks intense, how are you coping? Are you getting your sleep at all?

To Viktor: Thanks for the concern but I'm fine, schedule is not that tight as compared to what my schedule in 2010 looks like. In fact, I'll be able to fit in my dutiful amount of sleep hours if there is no one who decides to call me up in the middle of the night for a chat just because that someone misses me.

To Yuuri: Oops, *sheepish look* but Yuuri~~~ it's just that one time that I'd forgot about the time difference. *puppy pleading eyes* Please forgive me?

To Viktor: Was never mad at you, just stating a fact.

To Yuuri: What are you doing now?

To Viktor: Getting stuff ready for tomorrow morning class, a kind reminder Shanghai is 12 hours ahead of Detroit, so please avoid calling me in the afternoon (Shanghai time) – those are my precious sleep hours.

To Yuuri: Noted… Good night then, it's 11.30 am here… so 11.30 pm for you. Time for bed. Love you always 333

To Viktor: Love you too… 333, Night!

When Yakov turns back around to collect his two students from the hotel lobby, he found himself staring at the sight of the duo busying with their respective phones. Georgi, no doubt, is text-ing his beloved Anya again… but at least Georgi had the sense to keep the phone away in practice hours. Viktor, on the other hand… never seemed to be separated with his phone. Even during practice time, the phone would be tucked into his coat's pocket which he always lays it where the benches are. Once break time was declared, he would put on his skate guards in a swift and efficient manner and rushes straight for his phone the very next moment.

"Vitya, Georgi… your respective card keys to your room. Bring your luggage up and keep them away, take what you need and assembles here in the lobby in fifteen minutes! We're going to scout out the rink." Yakov announced, drawing the two skaters' attention to himself.

Fifteen minutes is more than enough time for someone to put away their belongings, but it's definitely not enough for Viktor to finish watching Yuuri's music performance videos made available on You-tube. He had recently discovered a channel in You-tube that holds a lot of performance videos of Yuuri that is unrelated to skating, and purely dedicated to music performances.

It was just nice since Viktor had pretty much exhausted the supply of videos from Yuuko's you-tube channel, and was dying without anything to soothe his usual Yuuri withdrawal symptoms. If Yuuko's channel on You-tube is the one to go for Yuuri's past figure skating videos, then this 'Klassik_Seri' channel would be the one to go for Yuuri's music performance videos. The best thing is this channel contains videos of not only competition, but also regular performances videos of Yuuri – both formal and informal setting.

Judging from the channel owner's description made available, while Viktor had yet to contact the owner for verification but he suspects the channel owner being Yuuri's second music instructor - Serizawa Chieko. He had just chanced upon the video of Yuuri performing the song he's using for his current seasons exhibition skate 'Let it Go' on the flute when Georgi came knocking on his room door, reminding him that it was time to meet Yakov downstairs at the lobby for their trip to the rink.

"Come on, hurry up. Take any more longer, Yakov would be yelling at us again." Georgi was urging Viktor as the knocking sound becomes more agitated with each passing seconds.

"I'm coming, stop hammering on the door." Viktor sighed, as he subscribed to the channel 'Klassik_Seri' and decided to check the channel out again later tonight. For now, it was time to meet Yakov and put a stop to Georgi's dramatic actions.

Later that night, Viktor timed his call to Yuuri according to the picture of the schedule Yuuri had send to him earlier in Whatsapp… calling the Asian up exactly in the thirty minutes free block that he's certain Yuuri did not have anything planned in advance.

"Viktor? How did you know I'm free now?" Yuuri sounded quite surprise upon receiving Viktor's request for a video chat session.

"You must be quite out of it last night, if you fail to recall sending me a screen shot of your schedule book for the month of October." Viktor commented rather dryly.

"…Oh right, I did send you that picture – didn't I? So what's up?" Yuuri took a moment to recall, and when he did he shrugged it off like it was nothing important.

"Well… I misses you for one, and… and why didn't you let me know you'd performed 'Let it Go' before?!" Viktor knew he sound somewhat ridiculous whining about Yuuri's performance of 'Let it Go' on the flute, but he can't help it… if he'd knew about it prior to his deciding on which music to use for his exhibition skate he would've chosen to do his exhibition using the flute quartet cover version which Yuuri performed rather than the music from the original OST album.

"…Oh that performance. I'm going to assume that you'd found that video on You-tube?" Yuuri was not surprised by the knowledge that his videos of music performance could be found on You-tube since he knew his flute and piano instructor back in Japan had the habit of recording students' performance and uploading them onto the Internet. It was exactly the same with Yuuko uploading his figure skating videos onto the Internet, he could complain about it all day and no one would heed his complaints to remove the videos. Eventually, Yuuri had just given up on the idea of not having his performance videos uploaded onto You-tube.

"Yes, whoever that Klassik_Seri is… I'm really grateful for the videos they uploaded. Speaking of which, is the uploader someone you're familiar with? I'd noticed the channel holds videos of your recent music competitions even…" Viktor then asks, sounding quite curious and wanting to know if his previous guess on the channel owner identity was accurate.

"Well… the competitions videos can be easy to obtain with the crucial contacts in all that right places within the music industry. It certainly also helps that she's my official pianist for the majority of the flute performances on International stage, at least… so she having someone recording down those kind of performances is kind of expected. As for the informal performances such as school concerts, casual afternoon concerts held outside school – it helps that she have helpers around to help record down my performance for her. Before you asked, no I still do not know whom she had approached to get her hands on those school-time concerts performances videos." Yuuri responded with a sigh, he had been trying to figure out that little detail for years now and he never did quite find out the culprit behind the leaks of those school concerts event.

"Any possibility of the culprit being Phichit?" Viktor suggested, sinc e he did get his hands on a couple of school performance videos of Yuuri from the Thai skater.

"No… I don't think so, Phichit only have videos of concerts held in school. He had no way of getting his hands on videos from external performances…" Yuuri pondered over the possibility for a moment, before shooting down Viktor's suggestion altogether.

"In that case, I'll wish you luck on locating the culprit behind the videos leak." Viktor smiled at Yuuri mischieviously before clarifying if the 'She' Yuuri had been referring to is his music instructor from Japan.

"Yep, I was referring to Serizawa-sensei alright. I thought her channel name sort of gave her away already? The 'Seri' is practically spelt out for all to see…" Yuuri responded rather dryly when Viktor brought the subject up for clarification.

"Back to the video of the 'Let it Go' which you performed with other flutists, are they your classmates?" Viktor then steer the conversation back to that 'Let it Go' video.

"Yes… they're my classmates alright. That video was actually performed in class out of boredom, as you know the animated film of 'Frozen' was quite famous at that one point of time and the song 'Let it Go' was the most popular choice for covers on-line. So many people were doing covers of the song back then, and then one of my classmates was like 'why don't we do a cover of it as well?' and then that someone re-arrange it in the format of the flute quartet. Thus, the performance was born… I didn't know someone was recording it until it was uploaded onto the Internet though." Yuuri shrugged, but at least one thing was confirmed… whoever Serizawa-sensei's helper was, the person was most definitely a classmate of his.

"Yuuri… can I make a request of you?" Viktor suddenly said, causing Yuuri to blink in bewilderment not comprehending just what kind of request Viktor would be asking from him.

"Erm… okay, what kind of request are you talking about?" Yuuri agreed somewhat uncertainly.

"Can you perform something for me? Something to cheer me on for my impending competition?" Viktor requested with his most adorable set of puppy eyes look he could muster.

"A performance… what kind of performance are you referring to? Do you want me to skate your FS again?" Yuuri furrowed his brows in consideration, as he voiced his doubts across.

"No…no… I'm not talking about you performing my free skate routine for the seasons. Even if I know you can do it, it's not logical for you to be able to replicate it just yet. You never had time to practice it yet anyway, I'm talking about you performing a music performance for me. Is that possible?" Viktor explained.

"Noted, any songs in particular you wish for me to perform for you or is the choice completely up to me?" Yuuri asks as he mentally noted down Viktor request, this was nothing too troubling for him… he just have to find a song and perform it either on the piano or the flute, record it down and send it off to Viktor would do.

"Nope, I leave that decision to you. So you can perform whichever that comes to you naturally." Viktor beamed as he informed Yuuri happily, very much looking forward to the video from Yuuri now that he had made his request.

"Alright then, if there's nothing else I'm afraid I need to end the call already. Classes are resuming in five minutes time, I'll send you that performance video before your SP program begins…" Yuuri let out a sigh when he heard the first bell chimed over the PA system, as he brought the video-call session to a reluctant close.

"I'll be waiting for it. Love you always." With that, the video call was brought to an end with Viktor ending the session this time around.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 14/3/17.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"Penny for your thoughts?" Shinomiya Kanade snapped his fingers in front of Yuuri snapping the fellow Japanese attention back to reality.

Yuuri blinked once then twice, before apologizing for zoning out in the midst of their discussion pertaining to the project.

"It's fine, but are you really okay? You do have a rather tight schedule recently…" Shinomiya Kanade frowned as he voiced his question across to Yuuri.

"I'm fine, I'm still getting the ample hours of sleep required to function on a daily basis. Besides compared to what I'd experience in 2010, this is really nothing." Yuuri eventually sighed and responded to Kanade's inquiry with a honest expression on his features.

"2010… that's the year before you came over to Detroit for further study right? Can I ask what exactly happened in that year?" Kanade asks carefully, because he did not want to come across as prying.

"…Let's just say that it's a living nightmare between dealing with school work, club activities as a member on a school's wind band, trying to gain a scholarship by participating in various music competitions and getting in a good ranking to be qualify for consideration to be offered a scholarship by our school, and then adding in my life as a professional figure skater." Yuuri commented rather dryly, but he did not mind Kanade's question at all… because this was one of the most commonly asked questions throughout the majority of his life.

Frankly speaking though, sometimes he wonders just how exactly does Viktor missed out on all the signs of him leading a double life as both a music performer and a figure skater during the twenty years they were married. It was not like he had deliberately kept the whole thing a secret after all, and if Viktor really paid attention to his daily actitivies… there are practically signs hinting at the fact all the time. With a shake of his head, he turns his attention back to the topic at hand.

"Wow… this is kind of mind-boggling to me, and I thought I had it bad enough juggling my modeling work and regular school activities but you seriously creamed me in this section." Kanade admitted after taking a moment to digest Yuuri's words.

"Haha… very funny, we're not competing in this anyway. Speaking of, like I say compared to my experience in 2010… juggling regular school work with music performances and figure skating competitions is really nothing compared to before. It just makes my weekdays schedule tightly packed with literally no breaks in between. Since I'm not sacrificing my sleeping hours this time, I think it's fine." Yuuri concluded before diverting Kanade's attention away from his schedule issue.

"Hate to break into your lovely conversation, but I do also have a schedule to abide to. Can we just get on with the rest of the discussion already?" Shinomiya Haruka broke in then, unlike his younger twin Kanade, he is not only doing part-time modeling on the side but is also taking up minor roles in some of the films directed by his father's acquaintance in the movies industry recently treating the experience as an internship of sort.

"Right, I'd forgotten about it… you had a filming schedule to stick to." Kanade apologized as he re-started the project meeting once again. "So what do we have so far?"

"Script is 80% done now, I just need to finish up the last two scenes in Act 2 and we are set to go." Kawada Yuki responded.

"I've spoken to the rink management team, these are the terms and regulations for the use of the rink as our performing stage. Anyway, all informations pertaining to the rental details are in the A4 envelope… feel free to pass it around to get a good read of it. Either way, I think the most crucial thing right now is the budget issue. Seeing as the rink is not part of the school facility despite being situated on campus grounds it's actually managed by external parties so we have to pay rental in order to gain the use of it. Since we do not have a budget allocated for the project, how are we going to finance the venue rental should be the most important thing for today's meeting discussion." Yuuri spoke up then, passing the envelope of information towards Kanade since the guy was pretty much their unofficial leader for the project meeting anyway.

"Hm..m… I'll work something out, don't worry about the budget thing." Kanade was telling Yuuri, and then he passes the envelope of information to his elder sibling. The duo communicate silently among themselves before they both nodded and the topic was concluded as closed for discussion much to the bewilderment of Yuuri.

"So… that's it, we're just going to let the two of you settle the budget thing?" Yuuri blinked, finding it unbelievable that the topic was not discussed further because the amount wasn't low enough to be considered affordable by usual students' standard.

"Yes, don't worry… we have in mind whom to approach for the finance. Also, since we are paying for the venue rental and all… we might as well make it a professional musical on ice show and start charging audience for tickets fee." Kanade was saying, and then suddenly turn towards Yuuri and asks.

"Do you know any professional skaters that you could perhaps ask if they could perform in the musical out of goodwill without charging any fee from us?"

"…" Yuuri stared wide-eyed for a moment, before he actually start sifting through his mind for possible candidates. Eventually, he said. "I could ask around for you, but I am not sure how many of them would actually be interested enough to do it free of charge of course since this is after all a student's production."

"Good, I shall leave that up to you then and also please inform them they need to join the auditions as well. Have to be fair, you see…" Kanade said, winking as he did so at Yuuri causing the fellow Japanese skater to sweat-drop in response.

"So has you guys decided when to conduct the audition for the musical yet?" Yuuri asks then, figuring that he would need that particular detail if he was going to be asking around if there are any professional skaters that might be interested in performing for them out of goodwill. Well, he figured Phichit would most likely be trill about the idea of it since all he did recently was to probe on how the status of the musical is going… maybe Phichit would have some good suggestion on who he could considered approaching on this issue?

"I was thinking about 25th October but that's a little too rush, isn't it?" Kanade started looking quite sheepish as he informed Yuuri of it.

"…Well, if I had to be absolutely honest with you… that's really a bit of a rush but if you are okay with the idea of limiting the choice of the professional skaters to members within the Detroit Skating Club I think it could work." The more Yuuri pondered about the idea, the more inclined he is leaning towards involving just members from the Detroit Skating Club in it… because they're already doing it as part of a collaboration project so money would not matters to them.

"If you think they are good enough to bring in audience from the general public that wouldn't mind spending money on the tickets just to see them in action, I'm alright with it." Between Kanade and Haruka, it was Haruka that responded this time around.

"That I think you have nothing to worry about…" Yuuri eventually responded, inwardly thinking that maybe he should just advertised on his official twitter account after all. That will garners the attention of his fans, at the very least and if he could fit in an autograph signing session at the end of the event… that might send his fans into a frenzy trying to get ahold of the tickets. Somehow the sheer visualization of that image in mind caused Yuuri to flush crimson from embarrassment, thinking himself unorthodox to be employing such tactics.

"Eh… are you alright? You're looking quite red in the face, you're not getting sick – are you?" Kanade ask as he took in Yuuri's physical state with concern.

"I'm fine… just thought of something embarrassing – that's all." Yuuri waved off Kanade's concern remarks, as he explained himself.

"Aa… okay, so back to the audition date – is 25th October agreeable with everyone? If so, I'm going to submit that application form to the school administrative members later on in the day."

"Sure, go ahead." Kawada Yuki agreed readily.

"I'm alright with the date, just let me know of the time later on so I could fit it into my schedule." Yuuri responded, there was nothing for him on that day saved the plan of watching Viktor skating his short program in Cup of China on his live-stream but if he happens to miss it, he could always wait for the repeat broadcast that is bound to screen on TV at a later point of time. That reminds him he still had the performance to record and send to Viktor before the man skates in Cup of China… he should probably get it done later when he's meeting Amelia for their rehearsal session.

Once the discussion meeting was adjourned, Shinomiya Haruka had all but flee the area making a straight dash for the carpark where the twins' shared vehicle was being parked. Shinomiya Kanade could only shakes his head in response before making some comments about having to call an uber to get home later since the car would not be available for his use with Haruka gaining access to it first.

"The two of you is sharing a vehicle among yourselves?" Yuuri asked out of curiosity, he knew the twins drives but wasn't sure if they each own their respective vehicle or they were sharing.

"Yep, we usually have a schedule work out between ourselves… but sometimes he just uses it when he's in a rush despite the initial agreement." Kanade shrugs, not wanting to kick up a fuss about it and besides he didn't really have much of a use for the car anyway… except when he needs it for a date.

"Well… I still have something on, so I'll be making a move first. I'll see you later this evening for our pre-arranged dinner plans." Yuuri said, as he prepared to make a move towards the arts centre where the school's studio for music practice were generally located.

As Yuuri makes his way over to meet Amelia, a part of him was still musing over the similar and yet different lifestyle he was living right now in his second chance at life. Yes, while he still does the same things as he did back in his previous life… the approach he was going about it was different right now.

For instances, instead of keeping to himself all the time… he'd employed the idea of opening up to his fellow classmates and schoolmates now. While he wasn't going to be friendly to everyone that approaches him like Viktor tends to do, he was not going to clam up all the time in front of his fellow classmates either. Working on the musical project is a great start to changing his approach when it comes down to his social-relation skills, because it allows him to get to know his group-mates on a more personal scale rather than to rely on those first impressions he'd perceived in his previous lifetime.

Shinomiya Kanade, he had found to be quite alike to Phichit in terms of their friendly disposition but unlike Phichit who's basically a social media addict and tends to get over-excited upon finding something that interests him … Kanade doesn't spend all his free time engaging in social media apps. Kanade is generally laidback and easy going, so once Yuuri accustomed himself to the guy's quirks – they'd managed to click quite well with one another. Before Yuuri realize it, he'd started meeting Kanade for regular dinner meet-ups and bonding over their common love for dogs. Apparently, the Shinomiya family owns a golden retriever by the name of Bernard and then they would trade pictures and old tales of their beloved pets over dinner.

Yuuri still does not knows much about Shinomiya Haruka aside from the guy's busy schedule in general, and that the elder Shinomiya differs from Kanande so much so that one could dubbed their personal traits as 'bi-polar'. Whereas, Yuuri found that Kawada Yuki is not that aloof as the general public likes to perceive… if anything, the girl was just slow to warm up to people at majority of the time. Once Kawada Yuki warms up to you, she just never stop talking anymore. She's just uncomfortable with the idea of speaking with unfamiliar people, and so she spend her time observing people on the side lines instead. As for her aloof behavior, that's just a mask she puts on to keep people from approaching her when she's feeling uncomfortable.

Amelia Kwok, on the other hand, is familiar ground for Yuuri. Seeing as they were both majoring in music performances, despite their difference in the choice of instruments to major in… they pretty much share the same classes in general. Their classroom recital are usually held in the same hall, and same time period. They sat in the same classroom learning about performing tips, in terms of dealing with stage fright etc. They are also train to take up other instruments to broaden their knowledge of the music instruments in general. Besides, there's also the fact that the violin and the flute were both treble instruments and sometimes they would swap their scores to try playing a song that's written for another instrument and see how the outcome is like.

"Hi, sorry to let you wait for me again. My group project discussion sort of over-runs for a while back there." Yuuri apologized as he entered the music room that Amelia was practicing her violin in.

"Nah… it's fine, projects meeting tends to over-run. Mine was also pretty much the same time, because there are a lot of details to cover and sometimes an hour session is just not enough to cover everything that's involved." Amelia responded with a smile, waving off Yuuri's apology easily enough.

"I am going to assume that you're done with your warm up exercise now?" Yuuri started, as he took a clear folder file out from his backpack that's filled up with music sheets.

"Wow… that's a very thick file you have there, was that all your piano scores or were there more of it?" Amelia took one look at the file that Yuuri pulled out from his backpack and literally gaped.

"… I have more back home in Japan, these are the ones I'd compiled during my time in Detroit. You know how it is, sometimes I just couldn't resist getting the music sheet even if it's not written for my choice of instrument because I love the music too much to skip over it." Yuuri responded a little sheepishly.

"Right… and before you knows it, you started collecting a whole collection of piano scores when your initial idea was to go in search for flute scores." Amelia commented in a deadpan manner, she has the same problem as well but not to the extreme like Yuuri was.

Well, maybe the fact that she wasn't train in piano like Yuuri was makes all that difference… because if she purchased any piano scores she had to work on transposing it into an arrangement suitable for violin which is too much of a hassle she thinks. Yuuri, on the other hand though could simply just play the songs on the piano if he wasn't up to the task of transposing.

"Yes, exactly my point! Right, before we start out regular rehearsal session… I have a little favour to ask from you." Yuuri started a little embarrassed, he needs to record his performance for Viktor but he can't really do it himself since he doesn't owns a camcorder with a tripod stand and had to use his phone for the recording therefore he needs someone to record the performance for him.

"A favor? Sure, what do you need me to do for you?" Amelia asks easily enough.

"I need you to record my performance for me… I promised someone that I'll send them a video of my performance as a good luck charm, I supposed." Yuuri explained as he dug his phone out and unlock it for Amelia's easy access to the camera app.

"Sure, just let me put my violin down first so I don't risk dropping it accidentally." Amelia said as she moved to set her violin back down onto the top of her violin case, and took the phone from Yuuri's offered hands.

"Thank you." Yuuri smiled at Amelia in gratitude, before he settled himself down onto the piano bench. He flipped through his clear folder file until he reached the music piece that he was going to be performing for Viktor, before taking a deep breath to prepare himself mentally for the performance.

With a nod directed to Amelia signifying that she could start the recording function, Yuuri waited for the 'beep' sound from his phone before his fingers starts to fly across the black and white keys of the piano. The whole piece lasted about five minutes, and when Yuuri's fingers landed on the last note of the music performed there was a few seconds delayed before the recording was stopped on Amelia's part because she was too engrossed with Yuuri's performance to realize that the music had stopped.

"Oh my god… that must be the most beautifully played version among all that I've heard, whoever you are playing it for must have been real special to you – huh?" Amelia eventually managed to recover her speech ability after she stopped the recording on Yuuri's phone.

"Well… I guess, I should say thank you for your compliments? Now, I believe you had your own performance to prepare for… do you need a moment to re-adjust your mood back into your own performing piece? I could wait and give you a few minutes to sort out your feelings, since the music room today was booked for a period of 2 hours instead of the regular hour." Yuuri thanked Amelia for her kind words as he retrieved the phone with his performance recorded from Amelia, before steering the conversation back to that performance item they are supposed to be rehearsing for.

"It's okay… just give me a few minutes to run through my scales and arpeggios again to get myself back on track and then we can start the rehearsal officially. Although, I might need a few more runs today to shake myself from the residual effects of your performance." Amelia told Yuuri in a jokingly manner, which sends Yuuri into an adorably shade of red while spluttering apologetic words about ruining Amelia's performing mood prior to their rehearsal again.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 15/3/17.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

When Viktor received that promised video of private performance from Yuuri, he was having dinner with Georgi and Yakov together at one of the restaurant near the rink. Not wanting to watch the video in public and have Georgi peeking over his shoulders at it, Viktor decided to save it for later and watch it only back in the privacy of his hotel room and boy was he glad that he went with his gut feeling on it.

The moment he finished watching that performance video which Yuuri send him, he was in tears. Good god gracious, he knew Yuuri's performance tends to be very expressive with the emotions on the ice but he wasn't aware how much emotions Yuuri could put into his music performance as well. He had watched Yuuri's other music performance videos on you-tube before but neither of them actually send him into tears, maybe it's the fact that this was a performance that Yuuri performed for him solely that does it?

Regardless of the reasonings behind it, the fact remains that he, Viktor Nikiforov, cried after watching Yuuri's piano cover of the infamous movie theme song from 'Titanic'. Despite the fact that it was purely instrumental, and performed solely on the piano… Viktor could easily hear the lyrics in his mind when he listened and watch Yuuri's performance. It took him all his might to restrain himself from calling Yuuri up and started expressing how touched he was by Yuuri's performance. If it wasn't for the fact that he recalled Yuuri's schedule high-lighting the fact that the Japanese skater was in the midst of a class at this timing, Viktor would have throw caution to the wind and acted upon his impulse.

Without the option of calling Yuuri up, Viktor replayed the video performance three more times before he could helped it no longer. He was too excited to share his joy that he went pounding next door on Georgi's hotel room.

"What the hell do you want, Viktor?! In case it'd slipped your notice… it's freaking 11.30 pm, any decent person with an early morning plans would be in bed already." Georgi Popovich throws out at his fellow rink-mate with mild annoyance lacing his tone of voice as he answered the door leading to his hotel room.

"Oops, sorry Georgi… but I'm too excited to sleep now! Remember I mentioned something about getting Yuuri to perform an item for me to cheer me on for the impending Cup of China?!" Viktor gushes out cheerfully at Georgi despite the younger skater's grouchy expression from being roused out of bed.

"… Yeah, and? He send you the performance already?" Georgi was irritated by Viktor's antics alright, but he knew trying to argue with Viktor would only resulted in his precious sleep hours being shorten further. Hence, Georgi decided to suck it all up at this point of time and if he got singled out by Yakov tomorrow morning at the rink for not being performing well enough he could always blame Viktor for being the ultimate reason behind his lack of attention on the rink.

"Yep! Do you know what he had performed for me?!" Viktor prompted, grinning like an idiot and exactly like a hyperactive puppy wagging its' tail staring straight at Georgi causing the sleepy man to cringe in response.

"… No idea, please do enlighten me." Georgi sighed inwardly as he resolved to entertain the excited Russian, while looking longingly at his bed. However, with Viktor around there would be no way for him to sleep in peace because the currently excited man wouldn't give him the chance to do so.

Viktor's grin widen as a blissful expression took on his features as he announced proudly, "My heart will go on! Yuuri performed the infamous theme of the classic movie 'Titanic' for me on the piano! Isn't Yuuri the best?! Do you know he's so talented in the music areas of performance that he actually had two Wikipedia pages on the Internet?! Besides the piano, he's also well-versed in the areas of flute performance… and it seems like he had some basic knowledge of the violin and guitar as well. Aside from music areas, he's also excellent in the dance department! Are you aware he's doing a double major for his degree in both Music and Dance in his college in Detroit?!"

"…" Georgi Popovich wants to cry that he only wants to sleep, but it's hard to do so when Viktor was eagerly staring at him waiting for some kind of acknowledgement. Eventually, he caved and gave Viktor some half-hearted nod in response which then send the silver-haired Russian into another lengthy speech about how wonderful that Yuuri is… and to be honest, Georgi's sleepy mind still had not registered the Yuuri which Viktor was going on and on about was a fellow figure skater from Japan. In fact, the realization didn't even hits him until the Cup of China was over and was back in Russia, Saint Petersburg when he was forcefully made to sit down and watch the NHK Trophy with the rest of his rink-mates on TV.

Either way, the very next morning while Viktor appeared in the rink still looking very much alert and in a good mood… Georgi was the complete opposite.

"Georgi! I told you to warm up not to space out!" Yakov's yell broke into Georgi's sleep deprived state of mind, and finally Georgi looked back up at Yakov and announced.

"Sorry Yakov, but I think I need a nap."

"..." Yakov took in Georgi's appearance and took several deep breaths before he had the sense to calm himself down and inquired on Georgi's previous late-night activities.

"…I wasn't doing anything, I was just trying to sleep when that hyperactive of an idiot barged into my room gushing about someone sending him a video or something and then he proceeds to speak never-endingly about that someone next to my ears hindering my sleep. So if you need someone to blame for my inattentiveness today, you would have to take it up to him!" Georgi said as he threw a look over to the bench areas where his fellow rink-mate was seen focusing on that phone of his again.

"…Fine! You can have your nap. Come back here after lunch, and we will go through your routine then." Yakov told Georgi, before he snapped his attention to his other student and yell for Viktor to get onto the rink.

"Eh?! I thought my turn wasn't until Georgi's done?" Viktor looked up from his phone screen, blinking innocently at Yakov as he questions.

"It would have been that case if you hadn't disturb Georgi so much so that he's currently sleep deprived and unable to function, so stop dallying and get your ass out here onto the ice before I go over and confiscate your phone for the rest of your time here in China." Yakov practically demanded, and the threat of having his phone confiscated with no way of contacting Yuuri spurs the reluctant Viktor into action.

"Yuuri~~~ How could Yakov do this to me?! I can't believe he actually threaten to confiscate my phone from me!" Viktor whines later when he finally escape from Yakov's threats and immediately hides himself back in his hotel room before calling his beloved Yuuri up for a chat.

"… Well, he might not resort to threaten you with that if you weren't seen with your phone on you at all times." Yuuri responded rather sincerely, while he goes over the newly received emails in his email account.

"Yuuri~~~ but you know my phone's the only way I could deal with my Yuuri withdrawal syndrome!" Viktor pouted childishly on screen, causing Yuuri to flush crimson in embarassment. Meanwhile, Yuuri was quite thankful that the dorm room was empty as of this moment with Phichit stuck in a tutorial session back in the school. Otherwise, his fellow room-mate would sure be teasing him after Viktor's words of suffering from the so-called Yuuri withdrawal syndrome.

"Viktor… I'm also a victim of the Viktor withdrawal syndrome but you don't see me with my phone every moment of the day, do you?!" Yuuri tried to reason with Viktor how it wasn't necessary to keep the phone close on a twenty four hours basis.

"That's only because your schedule is too pack for you to be checking on your phone!" Viktor argued over the connection, still pouting over the threats he had received from Yakov earlier on in the day.

"…Viktor, whatever it is, shouldn't you be concentrating on your competition in less than twenty four hours away? Perhaps, if you do well enough… Yakov would turn a blind eye on your phone addiction or something?" Yuuri supplied knowing that nothing could have persuade Viktor to drop the topic of discussion, otherwise.

"Oh yes! Speaking of, I'd received that video of yours! Oh… do you know you makes me cry with that performance?! That was a beautiful performance, it was so beautifully played that I could literally feel the love you have for me. You played it with me in mind, isn't it? I swear, it makes me think of that 'Stay close to me' routine you mimic the other time that draws me to you…" Viktor said, as he felt himself lost in his memory of that one time he'd dropped everything in Russia and hop onto a plane to Japan in search for Yuuri on a whim.

"… Yes well, you got that right but don't you dare to drop everything this time around! I swear if after that performance video I send you, and you failed to stay focus on your performance I am never going to perform anything for you again on the piano or otherwise." Yuuri reminded Viktor warningly.

"Aww… no worries Yuuri! After your wonderful performance on the piano, I would have to respond in kind right?! So please do look forward to my short program skate in Cup of China, I'll be sure to do you proud." Viktor announced eagerly with a beaming smile, that causes Yuuri to smile in response as well.

"Good, I'll be looking forward to it." Yuuri responded, deciding against the idea of informing the Russian that he would not be watching the Cup of China event live but had to wait for the repeat broadcast because he had something else to do when the live-stream was on.

Viktor draws last on the day he's due to skate his short program, before he got into his starting position on the ice he makes sure to face the camera and waved cheerfully not realizing the fact that his beloved Yuuri is not watching him at the current point of time.

Viktor's performance had always been top-notch, that much cannot be argue. The technical elements in his program makes sure of it, a flawlessly executed triple axel to kick off his spin sequence that he was sad to agree but had to say was nowhere near Yuuri's perfection. It was time like this that he regrets not paying that much attention to Lilia's ballet training back in his junior days. Either way, at least he managed to keep his spin sequence at a level three standard and then from the spin he went into his connecting steps leading up to his signature standalone jump – the quad flip. Following which, came his combination jump sequence which comprises of a triple flip – quad toe – triple loop and then it was another round of spins that leads up to the end of his program and music.

Viktor's jumps was executed flawlessly, giving him a great score in his TES and then came his PCS which was surprisingly high in Yakov's opinion. Somehow Viktor was quite enthusiastic in his performance for today's program, that could be seen in the way Viktor was expressing and conveying his feelings on the ice. The end result was that Viktor ended up setting a new world record for his short program scores, incidentally making it all the more tough for Yurio to try breaking it with the Agape routine come next season.

Viktor skated his short program to the beautiful sootheing tones of Yiruma's 'Kiss the Rain', and he allows himself to think of no one but Yuuri as he skated it. Like Yuuri's piano performance of the classic movie theme song 'My heart will go on', Viktor responded in kind by dedicating his short program skate to Yuuri in mind and in essence. It was obvious from his way of expressing that he had someone in mind while he skated the program, and there was no doubt that he had successfully gain the attention of the media crowds again.

Faced with a crowd of reporters inquiring after his love-life, Viktor plastered on his charming mask in public and deflected the media attention on his significant half to the best of his ability. A wink here and there, he managed to keep the identity of his love a secret and assured the media and the public that one of these days, they will be able to find out the identity of his secret love in life.

"So does that actually means that you do have a potential love interest in mind at this point of your life, Mr. Nikiforov?" One of the reporters had asks.

"Well… I guess you would just have to wait and find out then." Viktor beamed a bright smile in the reporter's direction before expertly excused himself from the media by making a beeline for the common bathroom situated within the arena where the Cup of China was taking place.

To Yuuri: Have you seen my program? *eager look*

To Viktor: Not yet, but I've seen the scores. Congrats on setting a new world records for the SP. Will be watching your program as soon as I can, am still on the way back to the dorm room. Phichit had recorded your program as requested, will be watching it when I got back to the dorm.

To Yuuri: *sad look* Aww… please watch it asap, waiting for your verdict on it.

To Viktor: Will keep you posted, reach dorm. Going to watch it now.

Viktor didn't have to wait long, ten minutes later his phone buzzed with an incoming from Yuuri. There was a long string of praising directed to his flawlessly executed jumps, before his eyes finally zoomed in on that line of Yuuri commenting that his routine skated for today must have been the most expressive routine to date.

To Viktor: Anyway, good job. Also, should I thank you for not announcing who your love interest is to the whole world after your SP today?

To Yuuri: *grin* Thank you, I'll make sure to live up to your expectation for future routines. Hm..m… I'm not going to announce it anytime soon, I intend to wait and shock everyone again in your next season as my student ;D

To Viktor: You seemed to be awfully confident that I'll be asking you to be my coach again this time?

To Yuuri: Of course, do you think anyone else is capable of drawing your full capability out?! Or do you think it possible for me to let anyone else choreograph your future programs?! I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut in front of Celestino trying not to criticize his methods at coaching you before… so please tell me that you're not renewing your contract with Celestino?!*puppy eyes*

To Viktor: …Get back to you again on this, and please do not fly to Japan for NHK Trophy. I will see you again in Sochi!

Viktor looked at the last text message from Yuuri dejectedly, but then again even without Yuuri's explicit warning… Yakov would not be allowing him to fly off to Japan like the time he pulled his stunt at Vancouver. This time around, Yakov had the insight to confiscate his passport for fear that he would pull that same stunt as the time they were in Vancouver and thus he had no way of flying off to Japan, even if he wanted very much to do that.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 16/3/17.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The day after the scheduled audition session for the musical project, Yuuri's schedule was miraculously cleared for the day. There was no lessons to attend, no recitals to go for, no skating sessions arranged as Celestino has something to attend to as well. However, Yuuri wasn't one to clear his schedule for no apparent reason so when Phichit brought up the question of what Yuuri had intended to do for the day… Yuuri answered frankly.

"Miyabi's coming over to Detroit, so the whole of my today will be spend with her I figured. She had me booked for the whole of today, apparently."

There was a moment of pause as Phichit was digesting the little piece of information, and then the fellow Thai skater sprang up into a sitting position on his bed. "Miyabi's coming down to Detroit?! Seriously?! Which part of Detroit is she coming to visit?! Which airport is she going to land at? Is she landing at the Metropolitan airport, or is she going to land at the county airport that's closer to our place? No wait, is she going to come over by flight or is she going to come over via train instead?"

"… Geez, calm down for a second there Phichit. I'm still waiting for her travel details here, so unfortunately I wouldn't know which method she's coming by until she actually send me her travel details." Yuuri sweat-dropped as he works to calm his agitated room-mate down.

To Yuuri: [Travel details attached] … see you later.

To Miyabi: Noted. Will be bringing Phichit with me later, you don't mind right?

To Yuuri: No, I don't mind. I'll see you both in a few hours time. *wink*

Looking up from his latest Whatsapp message chat with Koshimizu Miyabi, Yuuri glances over to his room-mate and said. "Miyabi just send in her travel details, she will be landing at the Oakland County International Airport apparently. She claims to say that she wants to get away from the city bustle for a while, and thus not landing at the Metropolitan Airport that's closer to the downtown Detroit."

"Ah… maybe she just wants to enjoy a slower pace suburban life then. Although, I have to say our transport systems sucks… thank god for Uber if not traveling is going to be a chore. Remember the other time when the whole group of us decided to pick you up at the Metropolitan Airport?! We had to walk for about an hour to the Pontiac Amtrak station, transited several times along the way in order to get to the DTW McNamara Terminal where the Metropolitan Airport Train station was situated. The whole journey took nearly four hours to be honest… because just the transit time took up an hour seven minutes already." Phichit rolls his eyes as he commented on the poor transport system in place for Detroit, which only causes Yuuri to stare at him strangely.

"Shouldn't you guys just book an Uber down then? The drive would not takes as long as the train service right?" Yuuri could not helped but asks, granted he was actually a little surprise that very day when Phichit had said that they would be taking the train back to the neighborhood where they were staying instead of booking an Uber. Still, because of the short flight distance from Miami back to Detroit that day… Yuuri was quite willing to entertain Phichit suggestion of a train ride back to Pontiac.

"With so many of us heading down to the same place? I've checked, but there's insufficient Uber service on that day… and we kind of want to travel together in a group, so train services it would have to be." Phichit shrugged his response, as he dragged himself out of bed to start preparing for the day ahead.

As Phichit busy himself with his usual morning routine, Yuuri heard the Thai inquired. "So am I invited to join you and Miyabi in whichever activities you two had planned or do I have to find ways to entertain myself for the rest of today?"

"…You're invited, or rather I am extending the invitation to you now. I had checked with her earlier, she says she had no objections to you joining us." Yuuri responded as he started getting ready for the trip to the Oakland County International Airport as well.

The Oakland County International Airport is generally a thirty minutes Uber ride away from where their dormitory and campus location, so while Phichit was busying himself with the task of showering… Yuuri had taken it upon himself to book an Uber ride using the application he had installed on his mobile phone.

When Yuuri and Phichit successfully met up with Miyabi, the duo was completely floored by the trolley full of luggage that the girl had been pushing towards their direction. The skaters duo shared a common look of resignation among themselves, before Phichit took it upon himself to comment.

"No wonder you have no objections to me coming along for the trip, you desperately need a bellboy for your luggage – isn't that right?"

"Oops, sorry… I might have brought with me a little too much for a short getaway trip." Miyabi responded, before turning towards Yuuri and said. "Don't worry, I didn't forgot your new exhibition costume."

"…I'm not worried about that!" Yuuri rolls his eyes as he retorted to Miyabi in retaliation, he was just stunned by the luggage amount that the girl had brought with her from Miami to Detroit… half of him was wondering if a good deal portion of the items in the suitcase has to do with his promise to model for Miyabi's graduation design port-folio or not.

From the airport, they managed to get a taxi service to the Kingsley Inn – a low key four stars hotel which Miyabi had it in mind to book for her stay. The hotel was about ten minutes away from where Yuuri and Phichit was staying if one were to travel by Uber or Taxi ride, but is definitely more than one hour away if they were to travel on foot. Once again, this relevation causes Yuuri to inwardly wonders just why did he choose not to get a car following his return to the past.

'Oh right… the hassle of getting the driving license…' Yuuri answered himself mentally as he helps to unload Miyabi's luggage from the Taxi's car boot upon their arrival at the hotel. Once everything has been unloaded, Yuuri thanked the driver for his help and then moved to assist the hotel bell-boy in placing everything onto a trolley while Miyabi busied herself with the task of checking-in. Phichit, on the other hand, was seen browsing about the hotel's lobby and picking up brochures meant for the hotel's guests.

"Yuuri! There's a shopping mall within minutes of walk away! Can we go over and have a look around?! Please?!" Phichit pleaded his case as they entered Miyabi's hotel room under the lead of the hotel's staff.

"… I thought you should be asking Miyabi instead of me? And yes, of course there's a mall within walking distance. I mean this is a hotel okay? Hotels are always built near malls for obvious reasons." Yuuri commented rather dryly as he pushes aside the urge to face-palm upon Phichit's enthusiastic reaction.

"Well… we could always go to the mall for dinner, but we are going to do something else first. Did Yuuri fill you in on what he's going to do for me today?" Miyabi asks as she smiled at Phichit slyly.

"Erm… no?" Phichit blinked, before he glances back over at Yuuri with a curious look in his eyes. Now that he comes to think of it, it does seems peculiar for Yuuri to be clearing off a whole day worth of schedule just for Miyabi's visit.

"Haha! I knew it… why did you not tell Phichit?! Are you perhaps embarrassed?" Miyabi teased as her eyes zoomed in on Yuuri with a mischievous grin.

"…Embarrassed?" Now Phichit was intrigued, just what was Yuuri going to do that might have him feeling embarrassed?

"Yep, he's going to be my model for my newly designed clothes coming up in the next winter season. It would be going into my port-folio, and a partial of it made available to the general public for purchase. If responses is good, it will give me a good start on my future career as a fashion designer." Miyabi proudly announced, meanwhile Yuuri's face was turning red by each passing seconds.

"Miyabi! Can we just get this stupid modeling thing out of the way already? Seriously, I don't know why you're so focus on making me your model for regular designs fashion too. I did mentioned I could get Kanade in to help with that, I still think he would look better modeling your upcoming Winter 2015 designs instead of me. I can do the series for the figure skating related designs instead." Yuuri tried to argue despite knowing that it's a fruitless struggle.

"Well… I do agree that having Shinomiya Kanade as a model might presents me with an edge over the other students in fashion design, but unfortunately I had tailored all my prototype designs clothes after your physical size, so I doubt either of the Shinomiya could fits in those clothes I had stowed away in my luggage anyway." Miyabi responded matter-of-factly.

And thus Miyabi and Phichit spend the rest of the afternoon watching Yuuri posing and changing attires within the privacy of Miyabi's hotel room. At least, now it also solved the dilemma of why exactly Miyabi had opted for the suite room instead of a regular hotel room. It was for the sake of having more background to choose from for the photo-shoot sessions. Due to Yuuri's insistence, all the photos were taken indoors behind the privacy of Miyabi's hotel room. Regardless of what Miyabi and Phichit had said, Yuuri refuses to pose for pictures in an outdoor environment claiming that it would be too embarrassing.

"… Well, looks like I had no choice but to change model for the outdoor shoot then." Miyabi sighed, before looking over to Phichit and said. "Would you mind doing the last two sets of photo session for me wearing these?"

Phichit glances over at the clothes, and then back down on his phone to check on the temperature out there in the streets before his mouth twitches in response. "Full winter garb? It's only autumn now…"

"Yes, well…I know but I need the ambience for it? Pretty please? I wouldn't ask you to do it if it weren't for the fact that Yuuri refuses to cooperate with outdoor photo shoots." Miyabi was saying throwing a mock glare over her shoulders at Yuuri, whom was now trying to act innocent.

"I supposed there's no harm in doing that… I mean, I've always wondered what models are doing on regular basis. I can do it but on one condition, please don't make me wear these outdoor for prolonged period." Phichit eventually told Miyabi, his interest in finding out just what the job of a model entails won out in the end.

"Done! In return, I'll buy you dinner later at the Somerset Collection Mall." Miyabi agreed readily, and this time around Yuuri was dressed back in his casual attire that he'd first worn when both Phichit and himself went over to Oakland County International Airport to pick Miyabi up as he followed behind an overly dressed Phichit and enthusiastic Miyabi out onto the streets. They did the photo session for the outdoor winter wear at the Cranbrook Education Community nearby, and although it's a drag having to wear all that thick winter coats when its' only autumn… Yuuri could easily tell that Phichit had enjoyed his experience as a model regardless.

"That was interesting to say… it might be fun to do it once in a while, but I'm most definitely not considering it for future career." Phichit announced quite firmly as they settled down to dinner later at the Chinatown cafe of the Somerset Collection Mall, specializing in chinese cuisine.

"Well, at least now you know modeling is not for you in a long run… so you can cross that out from the list of career position after you retired from being a professional figure skater." Miyabi shrugged her response as she ponders over on what she's going to be having for dinner.

"Speaking of future career, Yuuri… have you given it any thought yet? Of course, I don't mean that I want you to retire at this stage of time… but just that you're already 23, there's a limit to how long a person could stay in competitive skating as a career." Phichit was asking Yuuri after he'd placed his order with the waitress.

"Honestly, I haven't decided yet." Yuuri sighed aloud as he too placed his order with the waitress.

"Either way, Yuuri had plenty to fall back on… so you really shouldn't have to worry about him. While one could only stay in the competitive figure skating environment for a limited number of years, there's not really a retirement age when it comes down to the music industry. Yuuri has that much covered I would think, why else pursue a degree in music performance? And if he choose not to pursue music after retiring from figure skating, he could always goes into dance teaching or coaching younger generations of figure skaters if he chooses to." Miyabi commented, as she finally decided upon her dinner menu for the day.

"Hello, I'm still here… and Miyabi, if one of these days you are not feeling up to fashion design anymore… you could always goes back to teaching violin. I know for a fact that you'd already achieved Grade 6 in your violin education with Yamaha back in high school, and really you don't need the long strings of competitions background to be able to teach. Besides, I know for a fact that you'd plenty of performance experience under your belt as well what's with your family background in the music industry." Yuuri throws back at Miyabi in response automatically, slipping easily into one of their old bantering routines.

"… Wait a minute, you are saying that Miyabi can play the violin?!" Phichit blinked, having no idea of what Miyabi was capable of doing aside from designing Yuuri's costumes for his competitions since the start of Yuuri's junior days in competitive skating.

"Correction, not just violin… she can play basically everything that you can find in a string quartet. That's the benefits of being born into the Koshimizu family, her parents were former cellist and violinist with the NHK Symphony Band. They had since then retired and set up their own music school specializing in teaching students strings instrument, and Miyabi's brother is now studying in Saga University with the Faculty of Education majoring in music teaching. His main instrument is the violin, but could easily played the viola when required. The only reason that both her brother Shunji, and her attended Yamaha Music School for their violin lessons in their childhood were due to the fact that parents tends to have a hard time teaching their own kids."

"Geez… thanks for the detailed description of my family background, and if it weren't for the fact that Wikipedia has already announced your family background information for all to see I would have return the favor by doing the same to you as well." Miyabi huffed in mild annoyance as she dug into her food, deciding to ignore Yuuri for the rest of the evening.

After a fulfilling dinner, the trio went on their separate ways. Phichit and Yuuri got their own Uber ride back to their dormitory building on campus, and Miyabi walks the way back to her hotel room.

To Miyabi: Sorry about just now, I didn't mean to announce your background in front of Phichit… *kowtow emoticon*

To Yuuri: *insert sighing emoticon* forget it… it's not like its' a confidential thing or something, while I do not have a Wikipedia page… there are bound to be mention of it in my parents' Wikipedia page if someone bothers to actually go in search for it. Either way, what's done is done… no point crying over spill milk. Now, please do try on the new costume and let me know if there's anywhere that requires adjustment. I'll be in Detroit for another few days, since I'm on my one week study break.

To Miyabi: Noted, will try it on and let you know if I needed further adjustments to the costume. Good night.

To Yuuri: Good night.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 17/3/17.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"Phichit… have you taken a look at the notice board yet?" Yuuri asked, after finding it strange that Phichit had yet to tackle him down into a hug and hence this particular question.

"Hm…m…? No, why…? Was there a reason why you're asking me if I had checked the notice board?" Phichit blinked, looking up from his phone with a look of confusion.

"Weren't you curious about the audition results? They're out, and is now pinned up on the notice board of the Detroit Skating Club. It has been up since this morning, and here I was wondering why you fail to react accordingly to my prediction…" Yuuri allows his voice to fade off when he realized his friend is no longer in front of him but rushing towards the direction of the notice board.

It was probably less than fifteen minutes later that Phichit reappeared in front of Yuuri and proceed to engulf him in a big hug while repeating the word 'Thank You' continuously under his breath, looking absolutely delighted.

"Wow… what's up with him? Is he drunk or something?" Ricardo, a junior two years below Yuuri and was approaching Yuuri suddenly paused in his steps and asks with a strange expression on his face.

"No, he's not drunk… and he cannot be anyway, since he's nowhere near the appropraite drinking age yet. He's just happy, I supposed? Speaking of what are you doing here at the rink?" Yuuri was genuinely curious as he asks, since Ricardo as far as Yuuri's concern was not involved in any ice-related activities and so really had no reason to be at the rink or even Detroit Skating Club to be honest.

"… I've come in search for you, specifically. I need to borrow some reference texts from you, the library copies were all reserved and taken out but I need it desperately for my project work. I was told a friend of mine to try my luck with you, since you being a dance major probably have a copy purchased since you don't really have the time to wait for the library copies to be free up." Ricardo scratched the top of his head sheepishly as he informed Yuuri of his reason for dropping by the rink.

"Okay… so which book are you looking for?" Yuuri inquired, while he does makes it a point to purchase most books listed in the book-list provided to the student when the new term or semester schedule is being released… he doesn't always bring them with him wherever he goes. Some of them he simply kept back in his dorm room for homework reference purposes, so probably won't be on him as of current.

"I'm not quite sure of the name, but I think it's' something related to dance experience or something?" Ricardo replied, somewhat uncertainly.

"Hm..m… was it the third edition for 'The Dance Experience' – Insights into History, Culture and Creativity by Mryon Howard Nadel and Marc Raymond Strauss? The one released last year?" Yuuri asks back in return after combing through his memory for it.

"Yes, that's the one. Do you happen to have it?" Ricardo inquired with a hopefull expression on his features.

"You're in luck, I do have it… the only downside is it's not with me now but back in my dorm. I've already cleared my dance major credits earlier on in the year, so I'm now only working on clearing my music major credits. Therefore, I don't make it a point to bring my reference texts on dance out anymore." Yuuri responded with honesty, before suggesting for Ricardo to pop by his dorm room later this evening to collect the book from him instead.

"Great, in that case I'll drop by your room around 7 pm later tonight?"

"7 pm is fine; I'll have it out on my desk either way. So if I happen to not be in, Phichit could easily get you the book as well." Yuuri responded easily enough.

After sending Ricardo off, Yuuri finally directed his attention back to the fellow Thai skater. Apparently, sometime during his conversation with Ricardo – Phichit has calmed down reasonably and was now seen conversing with Celestino about adjusting his usual skating practice timing to fit with the rehearsal timing of the musical.

"I see that you've finally calm down enough to start speaking coherently." Yuuri commented dryly as he approached both Celestino and Phichit.

"Ciao Ciao, Yuuri. I see that Phichit was selected as one of the musical cast, but are you sure he's suitable for the role?" Celestino glances over at Yuuri while he asks in a jokingly manner.

"Hey! I resent that, Ciao Ciao! I'm sure I was chosen for a reason alright!" Phichit protested against Celestino's joking remark, while Yuuri just smile in response.

"Don't look at me; I'm not the one deciding on the roles. That, was apparently Kanade's decision and whatever it is, I'm sure he has a valid reason to cast Phichit as Leroy… though I have to say, Phichit would have to work on suppressing his hyperactiveness when it comes down to playing the role of Leroy. Judging from what I've known, Leroy is quite a down to earth character and less prone to hyperactive reaction." Yuuri said as he started eyeing Phichit in a 'I still don't see why you were picked as one of the main casts' kind of look, that causes the fellow Thai skater to pout in a childlike manner.

"Yuuri! You should have more faith in me!" Phichit protested childishly, as he stared at Yuuri with his best imitation pout from one Viktor Nikiforov.

"… You know, I believed I should snap a picture of you now and send it off to Viktor for his verdict on your imitation act of him." Yuuri felt the start of a tug at his lips as he tried to maintain a neutral look on his face, despite the fact that he simply finds Phichit imitation of Viktor's expression quite hilarious.

"What?! No!" Phichit pounced, trying to get the phone away from Yuuri to prevent such a scenario from taking place.

"… Alright, boys! That's quite enough, don't you think? We're causing quite a commotion down here, and I would very much appreciate that the both of you control yourselves and refrain from acting like a clown." Celestino broke in then, he had had enough of his fellow coaches eye-balling him from their side of the rink.

"Oops, sorry! We'll behaved! Promise!" Phichit hurried to straighten himself into a standing position and salute Celestino while he did so.

A snort erupted from another fellow male skater standing near them; Yuuri shifted his glance over to the direction of the snort and found himself staring into the face of Jeremy Parker, a fellow rink-mate of the Detroit Skating Club.

"What?!" Phichit throws a look of annoyance towards the American skater, while the said American in question merely shakes his head in response.

"Nothing, I just thought that your apology to coach Celestino lacks any conviction in them – that's all." Jeremy Parker responded, in a cocky manner that reminded Yuuri oddly enough of a certain Canadian skater by the name of Jean-Jacques Leroy.

"Well... good to know that Kanade at least choose the right person for the role of Steven." Yuuri commented wryly as he took in Jeremy Parker's body language.

"..." There was a moment of silence as both Jeremy and Phichit glances over at Yuuri, before Phichit had it in him to ask. "Yuuri, was that a compliment or not?"

"Hm...m? Honestly, I don't quite know myself. I'll say it's a compliment for Kanade's insight though..." Yuuri responded after taking some careful consideration in his response.

"Now that you'd mentioned it... Parker does seem like an ideal candidate for the role of Steven, they're equally arrogant and proud if nothing else." Phichit commented after sizing Jeremy up for a few moments, causing the American to roll his eyes in response to both Yuuri and Phichit's observation.

They spend the next few moments discussing about the musical roles assignment, until Celestino practically orders for the three of them to stop talking and start skating. The Italian coach glares at them all for a moment, before giving it up and turn his eyes on Yuuri instead.

"Yuuri! Really, I'd expected better from you. Unlike them two, you are involved in the Grand Prix Series tournament for this season!" Celestino turns his penetrating gaze upon Yuuri causing the Japanese to gulp before apologizing frantically about losing his focus before snapping his whole attention onto revising his own program routines.

Later that afternoon, Yuuri and his group members hash out the finalized rehearsal schedule for the musical. It was decided that vocal training will takes place between 2 pm to 4 pm on Monday afternoon in one of the school's dance studio; the exact studio in use for rehearsal would be announced in the group chat created for all musical members on face-book messenger on the day itself.

"Okay and what about the acting rehearsal? Is that going to be held in the dance studio as well?" Yuuri voiced his questions aloud since he thought with the number of participants involved in the musical, only the dance studio could fits them all in for usual practice sessions.

"Most likely I'll book the dance studio for regular acting practice session, but the actual rehearsal will be on the rink of course but that subjects to the rink's availability slots which I need to look into as soon as possible." Kanade responded, frowning as he did so... with his elder brother away for a shooting session somehow he had a hard time organizing his schedule for the week. Usually, it was Haruka that help to sort out his pre-arranged appointment and hence making it easier for Kanade to plan his time schedule for the day.

"So how's the choreography coming along? Kanade has already given you the music, right?" Kawada Yuki rolls her eyes at Kanade's scattered-brain behavior and turn towards Yuuri instead.

"I have some ideas in mind, but dancing on the ice is different from dancing on the stage so I'll probably have to go over the dance steps in mind with the coach of the ice-dancing department at Detroit Skating Club before I could start teaching the steps to the members on the main and supporting casts." Yuuri responded matter-of-factly, when being addressed by Kawada Yuki.

"Good to know at least you already had an idea in mind on how to go about it, what's with you flying off soon for the NHK something back in Japan..." Kawada Yuki commented, trying hard to recall the exact name for the competition Yuuri has coming up for his figure skating career but failing to recall in the end.

"It's NHK Trophy but I'm not flying off until two weeks later, so I gathered I probably had some time to teach the first segment of the dance by then. I just need a professional opinion on it first..." Yuuri was saying, he had personally tried out the steps previously in front of Phichit but he really need a second or third opinion on the whole thing because his stamina level was way above a normal skater's ability so depending on what the coach of ice-dancing says he might need to tone down on certain part of the dance program or to switch out with an easier move so that novice level skaters could have an easier time mastering the moves.

"Right... I'll just leave that up to you since I know nothing about the difference between ice-skating and ice-dancing... to me aside from the fancy movements on the ice, skating is just skating." Kawada Yuki admitted somewhat embarrassingly.

"It's fine, I have a general idea of it but I'm not really an expert in ice-dancing either... hence the need for professional opinions." Yuuri admitted as well, he had done some prior research to the ice-show but was still kind of confused on the performers' moves on the ice. Does it actually includes elements of the synchronized skating in it or was it just the elements of the ice-dancing?

"Speaking of have either of you make it a point to announce the results of the casting on the social media?" Kanade suddenly spoke up, drawing both Yuuri and Kawada Yuki's attention to him.

"Erm... no, not yet... though Phichit might have already done so for me. Was there any particular reason why you're asking that?" Yuuri asks, sounding somewhat bewildered by Kanade's question.

"Ah... well, that settles it. I was feeling weird out by the sudden influx of comments on my social media account asking me whether it's true that we are doing a musical on ice for our final year project. Some of them were questioning our ability to execute it since we are all amateurs in the area, they say." Kanade summarized the comments he'd received on his twitter account and informed both his group-mates rather wryly.

"Seriously?!" Kawada Yuki widen her eyes slightly before she went to take a look at Shinomiya Kanade's twitter page herself, and then laughed aloud upon the sight of someone asking where on earth are they going to find so many skaters whom have the capability to do an ice show going as far to the extent of quoting Wikipedia page explanation that an ice show is typically an entertainment production performed by ice skaters.

"...Someone better replied that person that we are doing this as a collaboration project with the Detroit Skating Club that ought to shut that fella up I would think." Kanade muttered aloud in response, as he works on typing a few responses back to those tweets that he could bother with replying.

"While on the subject, I noticed that the role of the dean was being assigned to Haruka... does he know how to skate by the way?" Yuuri questions then, seeing as he doesn't really knows the elder Shinomiya sibling even with their constant interaction over the project.

"He knows how to skate, that much I can tell you... he took skating lessons before but he doesn't want to do it on a competitive level so I can't really say which level his skating falls under." Kanade said in response to Yuuri's question about his elder brother skating ability.

"Ah... I see, but why cast him as the dean then?"

"Well... don't you think he's the sternest looking person among us all? Besides, he does need to contribute some to the project and if he's unable to do much behind the scenes due to his conflicting schedules... the least he could do to play his part was to perform in the show itself, right?" Kanade exclaimed in response.

"..." Now that was something Yuuri agreed whole-heartedly, because Shinomiya Haruka has been absent from their project meetings far too often. Even Yuuri with his hectic schedule for figure skating training and competitions had actually shown up more frequent as compared to the elder Shinomiya sibling. No wonder Kanade decides to cast his twin as one of the secondary role in the musical.

By secondary role, it basically meant that there is dialogue interaction in the show but nothing too much like the main roles which basically appears from the start to the end of the show. Whereas for the supporting cast members involved, they might have no dialogue but they appears equally frequent as the main casts does.

Two days later, Kanade posted a snap-shot of his elder brother reacting to the news of being casted as the dean of the school in their musical project on the instagram which started trending almost immediately after the post. Fans of Shinomiya Haruka flooded in from all directions, asking for more information pertaining to the musical and when it would be open for ticketing sale.

To Yuuri: Yuuri! The musical project you're doing, are you going to perform?

Yuuri's phone suddenly buzzed in the midst of his dinner, causing him to look at Kanade with an apologetic expression as he took his phone out to read the incoming message. No surprise when he realized it was from Viktor, and he was actually quite impressed that Viktor had managed to restrain from text-ing him or calling him on a daily basis.

"Judging from the look of exasperation on your face, I'm going to guess that someone has asks you something quite stupid." Kanade commented as he took in the features of Yuuri after the fellow Japanese glances down at the incoming message.

"Yeah, you're right... someone did ask a stupid question." Yuuri sighed in response, as he text Viktor back.

To Viktor: Musical practice & rehearsal takes up way too much time, and honestly choreography for the musical is already bad enough... to perform in it would mean me withdrawing from GPF. Take your pick, you want me to perform in the musical or do you want to see me in Sochi GPF?

To Yuuri:*insert a long string of emoticons* The GPF! I want to see you in Sochi, PLS don't withdraw!

To Viktor: Good, shall see you in Sochi as planned then. ^_^

To Yuuri: Okay... where can I get the tickets by the way?

To Viktor: Tickets for...the musical?! You want to come?! Why?!

To Yuuri: Of course I would like to come, even if you're not performing in it! Anything to support my dearest people in the whole wide world! So please enlighten me where can I get the tickets to that musical show of yours?

To Viktor: ... Noted, I will get back to you on that, tickets not available for sale yet.

Putting his phone away from sight, Yuuri turn his attention back to Kanade and said. "Looks like we have no need to worry about not being able to cover the rental costs of the rink... because I just had someone inquiring on the ticket sale as well... so any idea on how are we going to conduct the ticket sale yet?"

"...I'll get back to you on that, and can we drop the musical topic already? I mean I don't want to spend dinner dwelling on that as well... this time period is for me to unwind, not to stress myself out further by thinking about the final year project." Kanade then turn pleading eyes on Yuuri seeking the fellow dinner companion's sympathy on the issue.

"You're right... we probably should leave the project discussion to tomorrow's meeting." Yuuri agreed after a moment of silence, and then they proceed to discuss Vic-chan's dieting plan instead.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 18/3/17.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Viktor Nikiforov had just put down his phone after his recent text message to Yuuri that he realized he had forgotten to check with the Asian about when the musical is taking place. He remains firm with his belief that he should go down and watch the show in order to support Yuuri's effort in the production of it. However, the possibility of it depends a great deal on just when exactly would the musical was taking place. After all, March is also when the World Championship Tournament would be taking place and therefore he needs to know the date for the musical so he could plan his schedule for March next year in advanced.

Viktor debated for a while, before he finally made up his mind to drop Yuuri yet another text message while cuddling his pet poodle, Makkachin to him. Glancing at the timing reflected on the upper right corner of his phone screen, he noted that there was a very high chance of him intruding on Yuuri's dinner time.

"Well… let's hope Yuuri won't hold it against me, it's just so hard to find a timing that Yuuri's not doing anything these days." Viktor murmured into the fur of Makkachin as he pressed the 'send' button on his phone and waited.

To Yuuri: Last question, I promise *puppy eyes* When is the musical happening? I gathered that it will be in March but can I have the exact date so I can mark it down on the calendar?

To Viktor: Exact date not decided yet, will let you know once details pertaining to it is finalized.

There was a few minutes of delay before Viktor receive the reply from Yuuri, and reluctantly Viktor allows himself to put the phone away. He did promise that to be his last question to Yuuri for the day, and so whether he likes it or not – he would have to stop his messaging acts.

"Oh well… it's late anyway, I'll just go to bed then." Viktor sighed aloud as he gathered up his phone and headed for the direction of his bedroom. He did a final check on his phone remaining power supply before placing it by the side of his bed, atop of his bedside cabinet. He decided to leave the charging of his phone for the next morning, since it's not too good to charge the phone overnight. There has been quite a few incidents of phones catching fire recently due to over-charging? While Viktor has faith in the quality of his phone charger, he thought it would be better not to test it.

Viktor was hardly surprised when he woke in the morning to discover that somehow Makkachin had wormed itself into his embrace during the night. That seems to be the recent trend anyway, and Viktor always knew that he was a cuddlier. Therefore, it was really not that much of a surprise to find himself cuddling Makkachin in his sleep since there was no Yuuri around for him to cuddle up with.

"Woof!" Makkachin let out a soft bark as though she was genuinely aware that it was still too early in the morning for her to be loud.

Viktor allows a chuckle as he greeted his pet poodle with affection, "Good morning to you too, Makka."

The dog follows him dutifully as he made his way to the attached bathroom and started getting ready for his day ahead. Plugging in his phone charger to the power-point as he attached his phone to the cable while it charged, Viktor headed for the shower.

Once the morning routines were all completed, Viktor headed for his kitchen and started fixing up breakfast for both Makkachin and himself. Due to Viktor's lack of talent in the cooking department, his breakfast consists of mainly instant oatmeal cereals that one could easily get from the supermarket aisle and freshly brewed coffee from his coffee machine. As for Makkachin's breakfast, that's even easier because all he had to do was to ready the dog food in Makkachin's bowl together with another bowl of water and set it by the usual place where Makkachin tends to wait to be fed.

After breakfast, Viktor took Makkachin out for a walk around the neighborhood. The walk typically last about half an hour to an hour, depending on how far Viktor is willing to travel on foot and how much free time does the Russian has on hand. Regardless of how long the entire walk has been, Makkachin would always be a happy and satisfied poodle pet by the end of the trip.

Yuuri's message pertaining to the musical details came in while Viktor was busy practicing under Yakov's watch on the ice, and as tempting as it was to stop in the middle of his routine to check his phone for the incoming message… Viktor kindly refrain from doing so. After all, for the sake of his freedom to roam about during Sochi GPF… it would be better not to test Yakov's patience further. Viktor certainly do not wish to have his passport detained again, this one time experience during and after his Cup of China competition was more than enough.

With the resolution of not testing Yakov's patience, Viktor continue his skating practice deciding to check Yuuri's message later on in his official break time.

"Was it just me or is Viktor really obedient today?" On the other side of the rink, Mila Babicheva elbowed Georgi Popovich whom was on his scheduled break as she asks.

"I guess Yakov's decision to confiscate his passport during and after his free skate at the Cup of China does have its use." Georgi glances up from his own phone to take a look over at Viktor's direction before responding.

"I beg your pardon?! Did I hear you correctly?! Yakov confiscated Viktor's passport, really?!" Mila blurted out in shock, before slapping a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing aloud.

"Of course I'm serious, do I even looks like I'm joking with you?" Georgi Popovich shot back in return, looking quite offended at Mila's insulation.

"Aww… Georgi, I'm sorry for doubting your words but you have to understand from my point of view. Besides, Yakov doesn't seem to be the type whom would resort to confiscate someone's passport while overseas because the passport actually serves as our identification document while overseas." Mila explained her reason behind her initial doubt.

"Well… maybe someone planted that idea into Yakov's head? I don't know, or maybe it was Viktor's stunt in Vancouver BC, Canada that triggered such an extreme act on Yakov's side?" Georgi frowned for a moment before giving up on the notion of figuring out whatever that was going on in his coach's mind.

"Alright, Vitya… you can go for your break. Next, Mila I want to go through your free skate routine again!" Yakov barked out towards the chatting duo direction after dismissing Viktor from the ice.

The moment Yakov announced it was time for his break, Viktor hurriedly replaced the skate guards on his skates and dropped himself onto the bench seats and started fumbling for his phone.

To Viktor: The musical would be taking place on 21st March 2016, Monday. It would be taking place at the rink of Detroit Skating Club, address: 888 Denison Ct, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302, USA. The timing for the show would be from 7 p.m. to 9.30 p.m., ticketing details would be released at a later timing. However, based on what I've been told the tickets could be purchase on-line through the ticket-city website [insert website link] from 2nd January 2016 onwards apparently.

To Yuuri: Thanks for the details! I'll be sure to purchase the tickets when it goes on sale. 333 Practice session is tough today; Yakov's been a slave-driver. *sulky look*

To Viktor: I'm sure Yakov's not being mean on purpose, whatever he makes you do in practice is for your own good so it would be best if you actually listen to his advice. I'm sorry for not talking to you as much recently, but I'm quite swamped on my side these days. Celestino's being more demanding recently since we had to cut down our practice session due to the musical project going on, thankfully I'm the only one with competitions coming up. Otherwise, I highly doubt the Detroit Skating Club would agree to do the musical show with my group members.

To Yuuri: It's okay. I don't mind using text as our main communication method for now. You mentioned you being the only one with competitions coming up? I thought the US Nationals Championship is in January next year? Does no one in the Detroit Skating Club need to practice for that?

To Viktor: I'm not quite sure actually, since there are a lot of members within the skating club and not everyone hangs around Phichit. There are some whom kept to themselves like what I'd used to do… but as far as what I'd knew, the qualifiers for the National Championship of the US had started as early as the start of October. They had to go through the Regional first and then the subsequent Sectionals before they could make it into the Finals.

To Yuuri: *insert sweat-drop emoticon* Sorry for asking that, I had forgotten how tough the competition is in the states.

To Viktor: Yes, well… but tough or not I'm not a part of it. For that, I'm grateful and I'm sure Phichit is as well, despite not saying anything about it.

To Yuuri: Sad to cut our messaging chat session short but my break's over for now. *sad emoticon* Send me some cute picture of yours to cheer up my day, please? *puppy eyes*

To Viktor: *insert sweat-drop icon* I'm not one for selfie, you know?

Five minutes later, Viktor receive a selfie image of Yuuri sporting an adorable flush of red in the cheeks featuring the background of a communal bathroom. It soon followed by a text message from Yuuri that explains that he had no idea how to take a selfie so had to resort to using the mirror in the bathroom of the skating club for assistance and hoped that Viktor doesn't mind the background setting for it.

To Yuuri: It is fine, I don't mind. Despite the toilet cubicle reflected in the mirror of the bathroom, you look quite adorable sporting that blush on you. (^_^)

Later during his dinner hour back at home, Viktor proceeded to input the date of the musical into his phone's calendar marking out the date for the sale of the tickets as well. With the date for the musical show confirmed, Viktor was quite certain he would be able to make it for the show seeing as the World Championship would be taking place in Boston, USA on March 28th. Seeing as Detroit is located in Michigan, which is a two hours flight away at most… Yakov would most likely turn a blind eye on his individual acts so long as he made it to the World Championship on time.

Knowing his tendency to forget things easily, Viktor even made it a point to set an alarm reminding him to get the musical tickets when January comes around. Satisfied that he had marked down the dates that he considered important to remember on his calendar, Viktor then shifted his attention back to the You-tube videos he was in the midst of browsing.

It seems that someone had taken to upload Yuuri's dance performance videos onto You-tube as well, and according to the description of the video – these were taken earlier on in the year for a school assignment. It was performed on an outdoor stage at the Campus Martius Park close to downtown Detroit for a community project. This video was obviously filmed and put up by a random passerby since there was no mention of Yuuri's name anywhere on the video description.

In fact, Viktor would have missed it altogether if it wasn't trending on Yuuri's official twitter account. Apparently, some fans of Yuuri had found it by chance while browsing for modern pop dance on You-tube. To be honest, Viktor would actually like to have a chance to look at Yuuri's dance performance as well but unfortunately either these videos weren't uploaded onto You-tube or they weren't explicitly labeled with Yuuri's name in the description and hence making it harder for Viktor to locate them unlike music and figure skating videos that he could easily access through Yuuko's or Yuuri's music instructor You-tube accounts.

~ To be continued~

Date completed: 19/3/17.


	23. Chapter 23

"Coach Flores, so what do you think? Was that alright or do I have to tweak it further?" Yuuri asks as he glides from the center of the ice towards the side where the female coach in charge of ice-dancing training of Detroit Skating Club was standing and observing his earlier moves.

"I think that's fine for someone who has never done any ice-dancing before. You are also right in your guess that ice show tends to include elements from synchronized skating as well, but seeing as neither of the skaters involve in the musical are experience in that department… we are going to keep it at a juvenile level instead. I will write you a testimonial proving to your school that you had done your part in this choreography part, I will take over the rest of the choreography for the program myself. Since the program would no doubt requires elements that you're unfamiliar with, and I certainly could not take up anymore of your time. If I detain you further from your own training, Celestino would probably have my hide for it." Coach Flores was just telling Yuuri, when the Italian coach in question arrives at the rink.

"Thank you, that would be great." Yuuri told Coach Flores, the former professional ice-dancer with utmost sincerity before leaving to meet up with Celestino to continue his training regimen in preparation for the NHK Trophy to come.

"Judging from that look of relief on your face, I guess you're discharged from your duty as the choreographer for the musical?" Celestino raised an eyebrow as he greeted Yuuri who came to a stop in front of him.

Yuuri blushed crimson as he ducked his head down in embarrassment, before squeaking out in response. "Was it that obvious?!"

Celestino laughed, before responding in kind. "Yuuri, you weren't hard to read. You had stressed out over the idea of doing the choreography for that musical project of yours for some time already, I would be a fool to not recognize those signs that hint at your stress level rising with each passing day. For a while, I was even wondering if it ends up triggering another of your panic attack or nervous breakdown."

"Sorry…" Yuuri apologized, knowing that his behavior might also be stressing Celestino out and the Italian man might have confessed to Phichit of his underlying worries. No wonder, Phichit was being exceptionally observant the last few days during the official practice session held in the school's dance studio for the musical crew.

With his part of the choreography done and accounted for, Yuuri's practice with Celestino was accomplish uneventfully. He managed to land all his jumps in both the short program and the free skate, even his quad salchow landed cleanly and up to his satisfaction level for once. The rink was empty for the day, since Phichit and those whom were pick as part of the musical casts were over at the school campus for their acting practice session.

"That was fantastic, Yuuri! Now I want you to run through the routine one more time just so to prove that it wasn't a fluke that you managed to land that quad salchow of yours." Celestino beamed, this was obviously the first time he had seen Yuuri landed that salchow jump without faltering.

By the time Celestino dismissed Yuuri from the rink, the Japanese skater was completely out of energy. He allowed himself to drop wearily on to the bench seats while he was in the locker room changing out of his skates. Not finding it within himself to move an inch of his muscles, he reached for his mobile phone that was being kept in his backpack and pulled it out for closer examination. He had a tendency to ignore his calls and messages while in practice, so he was hardly surprised to find himself staring down at the dozen of notifications coming in from his social media application.

"…" Yuuri could not help it as his brow twitches out of partial annoyance, he really ought to have a talk with Viktor about the latter tendency to SPAM him with likes. Really, just what was there to like about his complaining on his lack luster choreography for the musical?!

Tapping out from his Twitter application, Yuuri made a move to pull the Whatsapp application out from his list of idling APP and proceeds to type a message to Viktor. Yuuri tends to resort to Whatsapp messages with Viktor because Twitter with its' 140 characters limit tweets are kind of hard to work with, he will need to keep breaking up his response into several messages which Yuuri deems it far too annoying for his liking. Therefore unless he didn't have much to say, he opted to resort to replying people's messages on his Whatsapp or Face-book instead.

To Viktor: Seriously, stop SPAMMING me with likes… what was there to like about my tweets of complaints about the dilemma I had faced with doing a choreography for the musical?!

To Yuuri: Don't say that Yuuri, I'm sure your choreography is fine. Besides, like you say… this musical's just an amateur production. No one would be judging it as though it was part of the Broadway on Ice, and the only one judging would be your school lecturers or professors, whichever applies. Therefore, really… you shouldn't worry too much about it.

To Viktor: Like you said this musical show is an amateur production, are you sure you still want to come by and watch?! It's not going to reach the standard of those ice shows produced by famous production team…

To Yuuri: I know that but I'm still coming to support you. Moreover, it's not like I 'm going to fly in specially just for that musical show of yours. In case, you fail to recall the upcoming World Championship would be taking place in Boston merely a few days later. For all you know, I am just trying to find a plausible excuse to come by and spend time with you. *smiley icon*

To Viktor: … *blushing icon* You know its' hard to turn you down when you say something like that.

To Yuuri: *grin* That's my motive in the first place.

To Viktor: *sweat-drop* Talk to you later, it's time for me to go and get my dinner before I collapse out of hunger.

To Yuuri: *sad* Aww… okay then, I'll just go and cuddle up with Makkachin then. *insert crying icon*

To Viktor: …*sweat-drop* You are such a baby at times… but well… *inserts a string of kisses & heart icons* Good night & sweet dreams!

To Yuuri: *happy icon* 333 Thank You! Love you and Miss you too! Please also think of me later when you head to bed, okay?! I will most definitely do better when I know you're thinking of me while you rest.

Yuuri read that latest message from Viktor with a roll of eyes, labeling Viktor as a sap. Still despite his thoughts of Viktor being a sap, Yuuri found his lips twitching up in a fond smile. It seems like Viktor always does know what to say to cheer him up, and with that he finally had his bag fully packed and ready to leave the rink.

On the way out, Yuuri dropped his skates off at the Jones Custom Skates for sharpening and makes the arrangement to come back early tomorrow to collect the skates so that the staff need not rush unnecessarily for his sake.

"Okay, but we don't exactly open at the same time that the rink does…" The staff was informing Yuuri of the possible situation that Yuuri would not be able to collect his skates in time for the morning practice session.

"It's fine, I have an older pair of skates available as spares. I can use them first if I happen to arrive before your opening hours." Yuuri assured before turning to leave the store and headed back for the campus, too lazy to head out far he decided to settle his dinner on campus grounds at the resident eateries located within campus grounds instead.

Since the school dormitory does not provides food for residents, the school compensates it by setting up a recreational center within the campus instead. In the recreational center, students can easily find cafes, food kiosk and smaller size eateries. Aside from dining facilities, students can also find a co-operative store that is manage generally by students pursuing studies in the areas of business related courses.

The co-operative store functions like a convenience store at times, it carries products like snacks and refreshments to hygienic products caters to different genders as well as some basic stationery that one might find themselves in need during lesson hours. Students can easily get their source of textbooks from the Co-operative store on campus as well, so long they pay for their books order in advance – the store will make the arrangement with the suppliers of the textbooks and have them shipped over without much hassle. The only difference between the Co-operative store and the convenience store is that it does not run on a twenty-four hour basis like a typical convenience store does.

To Phichit: I'm grabbing dinner at Asian Delights, you want anything?

Yuuri dropped a message to Phichit before stepping into the eatery store that specialized in serving Asian cuisine, aside from Asian Delights – the campus recreational center also features another eatery unit that serves mostly western food going by the name of Western Paradise. The eateries were kind of like a departmental store for food products, there are different smaller stalls located within the eatery itself and selling their own unique dishes to the customers. The concept probably arises from the food court idea that is quite popular in the Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia.

Aside from the two big eateries store, the recreational center also features special dining places like a live house that comes equipped with a stage area for live performances. That is also where most of the internal school concerts during lunch time was being held, the live house mostly serve food that leans towards the western group like the pastas and baked rice. Over at the live house students gets to enjoy live performances by resident performing groups – the UNIKII Ensembles, Orchestra and Bands while having their meal at the same time. Other features of the recreational center features a sports gym; a multi-purpose hall for various sports activities equipped with stage area and a covered walk-way that links with the UNIKII performing arts center which also functions as an academic building block for the performing art students.

There is a total of five performing areas available within the UNIKII campus grounds, of which three of them are situated indoor with best sound systems. It includes a 500 capacity concert hall, a 300 capacity theater and a black box area that could be used for dance/skit performance that caters to an audience crowd of 120 capacity area with elevating retractable seating. The other two were meant for performances on a smaller scale and for a more informal setting. It includes the UNIKII Live House and an outdoor am-phi-theater stage situated right smack in the center of the campus ground where the fountain structure was.

To Yuuri: Grab me some Phat Thai, will you?

To Phichit: Sure.

Sending back a positive response to Phichit, Yuuri stepped into one of the twos bigger size dining place on campus and go ahead to go in search for that stall that sells the Thai cuisine. Too lazy to queue for another food stall, Yuuri went ahead and placed the order of Phat Thai for Phichit and ordered a set of pineapple fried rice for his own consumption. After charging the food expenses to his food pass by tapping the pass card on to the sensor unit located by the cashier area, Yuuri grabbed the bag containing his ordered food and headed back towards the Franklin Hall, which serves as the school dormitory building.

Nodding politely in greeting to the staff manning the management office reception counter, Yuuri made his way towards his room. His shared room with Phichit was on the ground floor itself, they are sharing a double occupancy room which come equips with a private bathroom and mini kitchenette area. There are times Yuuri muses over the thought of Franklin Hall resembling a hotel more than a school dorm because they actually provides the residents with regular housekeeping and laundry services. Heck, they even offered complimentary airport pick up for newly arrived students… granted, only applicable if these new-enrolls are landing at the Oakland County International Airport. Nonetheless, Yuuri still finds it amazing because he knows how troublesome it is to travel by public transport in Detroit.

When Yuuri entered his shared room with Phichit with his own access card, he noticed that his room-mate was nowhere around. It seems like Phichit is coming back late, Yuuri then proceeds on with the task to place Phichit's share of food in the mini-fridge that comes equipped with the mini-kitchenette area within their room. Aside from the mini-fridge, it also includes an electric kettle and a microwave oven. Dropping a message to Phichit about where his food was being kept, and remind the Thai to heat it up before consuming the food when the latter's back from acting practice session. Yuuri proceeds into the task of digging into his share of food, he was very much famished after his constant work on perfecting his quad salchow in front of Celestino just now to able to wait for Phichit to come back and join him for dinner.  
Halfway into his dinner, he received a message from his flute and piano instructor from Japan – Serizawa Chieko saying that she's heading over to Detroit in a few days and asks if Yuuri is free for a meet-up session.

To Serizawa-sensei: I need to check my schedule, follow-up with you later.

To Yuuri: No rush for it, I'm only going to reach Detroit coming weekend. Just let me know before Friday night of your availability. I will adjust my schedule on my side to accommodate yours.

To Serizawa-Sensei: Noted.

Yuuri then took a moment to pull his schedule book out from his backpack and proceeded to skim through it while having his dinner, he supposed he do have an hour or two open if he wishes it. Still it depends on where Serizawa Chieko has it in mind for their meeting. If it wasn't too far out for him to travel, he might be able to make it. Seeing as his instructor wasn't really relying on him to give a prompt response, Yuuri decided to put his decision on hold first. He could really sit down and think over it after he had finishes his meal for the day.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 20/3/17.


	24. Chapter 24

"Good morning, Yuuri…" Phichit greeted cheerfully when Yuuri shuffled out of bed on a Friday morning.

"Morning…" Yuuri mumbled back in response, how Phichit can manage to behave so cheerfully in the early hours of the morning when the former actually slept later than he did has always been a mystery to Yuuri. At least with Viktor case, that Russian man is a morning person by nature. Phichit, however, is most definitely not a morning person. Yuuri would know, after spending several years sharing the same living space with the fellow Thai skater.

"So why are you up so early today? You no longer had to attend any dance classes right? Since you mentioned having already cleared the least requirements for a second major subject for your double major degree program." Phichit was asking Yuuri as the Japanese stumbled into their shared bathroom for the morning routines.

"Replacement lessons for the impending classes I will be missing due to traveling back to Japan for the NHK Trophy." Yuuri responded dryly as he removed his glasses from his face, placing them by the side of the wash basin so that he could wash his face.

"Replacement lessons?! I didn't know such arrangement exists, I thought the moment you missed the class the most you could do was to download the notes from the personal student portal account the school allocated for the student on-line." Phichit was surprise by Yuuri's words and hence the startling gasp at the start of his words.

"You don't really get replacement lessons for lectures missed, that you have to rely on notes… but you do get replacement classes for practical lessons. Because these classes you cannot possibly do it by yourself since it requires a professional's guidance. Of course, you have to book the respective teacher's timing on-line and sometimes you have to resort to book for another teacher's class because the teacher that was assigns to your class would not always be available outside of normal class hours." Yuuri responded before reaching for the toothpaste, and after the face wash he seems to look more awake with each passing seconds.

"I see…" Phichit responded in a numb-like tone of voice, as he was mentally going over the several times Yuuri had to play around with his schedule just to fit in all the competitions that kind of eat into his regular class timing.

"Was there anything to eat in here?" Yuuri asks as he stepped out of the bathroom, completely awake by now.

"There should be some bread from Panera over at the Kitchenette counter, Celestino gave them to me last night claiming that there was a promotion going on at the branch near Bloomfield town square or something." Phichit responded automatically, and watched as Yuuri headed for the kitchenette in search for that loaf of bread.

"…" Yuuri pulled open the mini-fridge door in search of something to go along with the bread only to find himself staring into half a dozen of ice-cream, most likely from Phichit's contribution.

"Phichit… I know you likes ice-cream, but was there really a need to stock up so many tubs of them?" Yuuri commented rather dryly as he took the apricot jam from the fridge for his bread before closing the door to the mini-fridge.

"Aww… you know I can't resist not buying it from the supermarket since we don't usually go there." Phichit whine in response to Yuuri's comment.

"…I'm sure the Co-operative store carries ice-cream as well, I very much recall that there's a freezer of them when I pass the store by a day ahead." Yuuri said with a roll of his eyes, seeing as there exists a nearby store that carries ice-cream he really does not see the need for Phichit to stock up ice-cream from the monthly supermarket trip.

"Yes, I know they carries it, but they don't have the big tub available… they only have those small cups size meant for instant consumption." Phichit tried to argue his point with Yuuri but all Yuuri could think of at this particular time was that Phichit's an ice-cream addict.

"Fine, I get your point so you can stop speaking of it already. Do let Celestino knows I would be skipping morning practice today, since I have replacement class to get to for this morning that starts at 7 a.m. which I should leave now if I wish to make it there on time." Yuuri told Phichit as he grabbed his backpack and his flute carrying case before hurrying out of the dorm room he was sharing with Phichit.

After his replacement flutes solo study class, Yuuri had his ensemble class session which basically is a group class activity including students of other majors in the music department. With the sole exception of Kawada Yuki who is actually doing a degree in Film production, Yuuri was sharing this class with both Shinomiya sibling and Amelia Kwok whom he was assisting with the piano accompaniment part in the upcoming graduation concert next March.

"Morning!" Kanade greeted Yuuri brightly, where Haruka only nodded at Yuuri with an acknowledgement as the duo trudged over to where Yuuri sat.

"Good morning, how's the acting training session? Sorry I haven't been popping in for a look at it thus far, but I'm quite swamped with keeping up on my own classes." Yuuri started a little hesitant and uneasily.

"It's okay, we understand your situation. You have an impending tournament coming up, and to graduate smoothly come March next year… you would need to squeeze in as much contact hours as possible for the practical sessions. Theory wise you could catch up easily with on-line notes, and some lectures have videos uploaded on to the student portal for absentees to watch them when they're available." Kanade assured Yuuri to not worry over the musical project progress, the musical is a big project and is a collaborated work over most faculties under the performing art's department.

Kawada Yuki, being a student whom major in Film Production would be working on this musical project by producing the script for it. Her contribution in the project would in turn be reflected on her grades in creative writing which is part of her core modules in her degree program. Shinomiya Haruka, however, very much like Yuuri was doing a degree with double majors – only difference is Haruka's primary major subject lies in Theater Studies which ties in with his acting, and is only minoring in the music department for his Cello.

Kanade, meanwhile, took to a double major degree in Music and Vocal. Therefore, he shared a couple of music related classes with Yuuri over the years. The only classes he didn't share with Yuuri mainly lies in the vocal section of the course, but generally students from the music major department would be required to fulfill a certain credit units in elective modules as well and these electives could be chosen from other disciplines. Kanade with his family background comprising a movie director and music producer had of course taken to the choice of choosing elective subjects from the theater and film production disciplines.

Kawada Yuki, whom major in Film production, meanwhile took up a few modules in the theoretical modules offered by the music department – that was how Yuuri met her originally. However, seeing as Kawada Yuki was not a full member on the music department there was really no chance for Yuuri to interact with the former back in his earlier lifetime. This time around, it was the musical project that brought all of them together.

Speaking of the musical, tried as he might Yuuri had failed to recall if such a big musical production was produces by the student body the last time around. Maybe, it did happen but Yuuri being too wrapped up in his own busy life had failed to take notice of it the other time around, or maybe it did not happen in his first life as a fellow student with UNIKII. Who knows, maybe this is what the saying of time travel tends to bring around butterfly effects to surrounding things was about?

Either way, ensemble practice consists of four areas of study mainly. First of all, students break into their own section and train on their respective sectional skills. In Yuuri's first year, all he ever did in such group class activities was to practice and train up his own sectional skills. Now in his last years, the group activities are broader and within the two-hour class time – students would work on their own section members which means working with fellow flute students for fifteen minutes before it expanded into working with the other members of the woodwind section of an orchestra. This would take up the next forty-five minutes, and the last hour is whereby all sections' come together and practice on a whole as a full team of orchestra members.

Now for ensemble music, there is a few types available as well. An ensemble unit that makes up with only the same family of instruments – Wind Ensemble; small group that comprises only the same type of instrument but separated by treble, tenor and bass family of the same instrument such as a flute choir; a small group of people playing on the same type of instrument usually a trio or quartet. There are also ensemble units that comprises the instrument from other family as well, such as putting the violin and the flute players together in a group and performing an item with piano accompaniment. That is also considered an ensemble performance, but when you include the percussions into the music – it becomes an orchestra.

One of the core requirements for a music major student is that they have to build up a repertoire collection over their time spend in the school, these repertoires includes solo pieces and orchestra pieces, be it in the form of ensemble; chamber music or concerto pieces. It matters not, what matters most is the students have to take part in various performing activities either by a solo recital or ensemble/orchestra performance.

These activities while did not contributes any module credits during the length of the student's study, plays a crucial part in the student's possible graduation because attendance would be marked. Students need to get a minimum requirement of satisfactory attendance for such activities before they could smoothly graduate from the program.

These activities include but does not restrict to internal school performances, competition events counted towards such activities' requirements and the same goes for participation of music festivals and events. Yuuri, due to his figure skating career tends to travel a lot about the world and he had made his career as a figure skater known to the school. Through various rounds of negotiation discussion, the school has decided to make some concession and loosen up the conditions for him. While he still need to complete the repertoire requirements, the school is willing to combine his dance performance requirements with his music performance requirements activities effectively lowering the amount of time he needed to spend on building up his performance experience.

Since participation in overseas performances or events counted towards the performance requirements, Yuuri had occasionally taken to source for international dance or music events/festivals to take part in that is also in the same part of the city he was competing for his figure skating tournaments. The reason it was only done on the occasional situation was that it is very hard to find something that can fit his traveling plans and would not take up too much time from his figure skating training while overseas. That, and the fact that Yuuri with his tendency to sleep a whole day away due to jet lag significantly cut down his free time in the country. Not to forget, Yuuri still had his over-active anxiety problem to deal with that tends to over-rule his logical sense of mind when it started acting up.

This time around though, Yuuri was going to try to satisfied his performance requirements while participating in the NHK Trophy. Seeing as the NHK Trophy took place in Japan, it might be easier for him to find a performing chance. He could always hold an official recital concert when he was in Japan, that would be a little more work since he would need to discuss with the venue managers on his own to make it possible but it was nothing his current self would not be able to handle. Moreover, Serizawa-sensei could be persuaded to vouch for his attendance to the school since she would pretty much be involved anyway as his official pianist.

"Looks like I'll be meeting Serizawa-sensei after all…" Yuuri mused a-loud to no one in particular, before pulling his phone out and drop Serizawa Chieko with a few time slots of his weekend availability

To Yuuri: Noted, I will arrange things on my side and send you the meeting venue later.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Yuuri received the text response back from Serizawa Chieko. Satisfied with one lesser thing to worry about, Yuuri directed his attention back to his modules' requirements for the ongoing term as well as the modules he would be taking for his last term of study comes next January. Making a decision to decline attending the Four Continents Championship if the invitation do reaches him, Yuuri decided to forgo skating during his last term of study because he desperately wanted to graduate on time and not spend another three more months in Detroit just because he failed to meet the least required attendance for his last term of studies due to being away for Four Continents Championship.

His last term was practically lined up with nothing else but performance related programs, a dance recital and concert here and there followed by UNIKII Ensemble or Orchestra performance in local community and in downtown Detroit. Not to forget there is also the musical and graduation concert in March, but before that during the month of February he had a solo flute recital to prepare for – it would be serving as the practical exam for his flute study. So, in short, there is no possible way for him to attend any skating related tournament in that last school terms of his degree program.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 21/3/17.


	25. Chapter 25

Yuuri was not surprised at all when he received the text message from his music instructor from Japan, Serizawa Chieko that they will be meeting on Sunday afternoon at the Bakers' Keyboard Lounge situated somewhere in downtown Detroit. Well, it figures that Serizawa Chieko would choose to meet Yuuri at downtown instead of choosing somewhere closer to where Yuuri was staying.

"Yuuri, I'm heading downtown… do you need a ride?" Shinomiya Kanade called out to Yuuri just as they ended their latest acting training session at one of the school's dance studios.

The performing arts' center is easily one of the biggest spaces area building within the Detroit campus of UNIKII, probably because UNIKII centers on offering programs in the performing arts' section among other academic fields. The center now holds a total of five dance studios that is being shared among students under the school of performing arts' programs.

"You are heading downtown?! Whatever are you going there for?" Yuuri could not help but asks, not that it was strange for Kanade to head downtown. Being a part-time model, Kanade typically head over to downtown Detroit for photo-shoots. However, this was the very first time Kanade was actually offering Yuuri a free trip downtown.

"I am going to meet someone there… and since you mentioned having plans of heading downtown today a few days earlier, I just thought it would be basic courtesy to offer you a ride. So, do you want the ride or not?" Kanade prompted, his facial expression seems to resemble a cross between sheepish and awkward(?) Whatever it is, Yuuri was having trouble reading the man in front of him.

It wasn't until the point that Kanade dropped him off at the designated area that Yuuri finally caught on to the reason behind Kanade's strange expression. Yuuri watched detachedly as Kanade shifted awkwardly under Serizawa Chieko's stern assessing gaze, before shuffling upfront and greeted the woman with a formal address of 'Aunt Chieko'.

"…Aunt Chieko?!" Unable to withhold his surprise, Yuuri had all but blurted out in shock as his eyes flickered between the standing duo.

"Yes, well… erm… this is going to sound awkward but to make things easier – let's just say that Aunt Chieko had some familial relations with my mother side of the family. Actually, they are cousins, but I seriously do not know how to call her formally so Aunt Chieko it will be." Kanade was desperately trying to avoid making eye contact with Yuuri, but still it did not deter Yuuri from connecting the dots and came to the glaring realization that it has been Kanade all along that assists his music instructor from Japan at getting her hands on his performance videos.

"It was you! You're the one whom supply Serizawa Sensei with all those videos of my performance, at least the ones that was wholly music related." Yuuri flushes crimson when he realized he was not only gaping at Kanade like an idiot, but was also being loud with his exclaimation of shock.

Blushing furiously, he lowered himself down on to the nearest seat that was not taken up by Serizawa's shopping bags.

"Yes, well… guilty as charged and finally the cat's out of the bag." Kanade dropped down next to him a few minutes later, the awkward expression completely wiped off from the latter features. Kanade was obviously relieved that he no longer need to feign innocent when the topic of Yuuri's performance videos came up in conversation.

"Alright, so you were acting innocent in front of me all these while… when you are the main culprit behind those videos being uploaded on You-tube." Yuuri commented dryly once his mind had fully digested this little detail that he had never connected the dots before now.

"Yes, but I swear I had nothing to do with those dance videos of yours trending around recently." Kanade vowed then and there, fearing that Yuuri would think him responsible for those trending dance videos as well.

"I know you had nothing to do with the dance videos, whoever uploaded them must have no idea of who I am in the least because it was never labeled with my name on it." Yuuri responded, rolling his eyes at Kanade's dramatic reaction.

"Good, at least we had that sorted out. Now, just what do you have in mind for us to do today? Typically, you would avoid meeting us at the same place and time when you came by for a visit." Kanade then shifted his attention away from Yuuri, and directed them towards Serizawa Chieko instead.

"I intended to hold a recital concert for my students, and I want the two of you to take part in it." Serizawa Chieko stated plainly.

"A recital concert for your students? Is it a formal or informal event? When and where do you intend to host it?" Kanade was asking as he furrows his brows while thinking over the suggestion.

"Why the sudden decision to hold a recital concert though? You had never done anything like this before…" Yuuri was curious as well, granted he was a little amazed by how alike his mind was with his instructor. Just days ago, he was contemplating on holding a concert in Japan as well and now Serizawa Chieko is the one bringing it up for suggestion? Granted, their motives for holding the recital concert might have been different but still the goal remains the same.

"Well, if you really must know… Kaori has an impending audition competition for admission into the Julliard coming up in the February/March period next year and she's now panicking over the idea of it. So, I thought to arrange a few recital concerts for her in Japan to give her with some time to accustom herself with the idea of performing in front of an audience crowd and a chance to settle her frazzled mind." Serizawa Chieko responded with a sigh as she regarded both Yuuri and Kanade with a weary expression on her face.

"Kaori… was that the girl that you mentioned wetting herself before her début competition during the PTNA competition selection round a few years back?" Kanade arched his eyebrow up in surprise when he finally managed to place the name with the face.

"…I thought I was bad enough in the anxiety department, so there's someone who's even worse than me?" Yuuri's feeling over this issue is complicate, there was a part of him that was amuse and the other part of him was mortify. Sure, he panics as well but only during international stage… but eventually as he attended more and more international competition the anxiety level fades off and now its' nothing more than an echo in his soul. At least, that was the case for his music competitions – the same could not be extended to his figure skating competition.

Serizawa Chieko said nothing but merely shot a deadpan look towards Yuuri's direction, which had Yuuri's blush deepening a shade in embarrassment. After taking a few minutes to compose himself, Yuuri started to speak again.

"Either way, Kaori must have been real good for her to chance upon someone recommending for admission to the Julliard but I heard some rumors that the competition is quite tough though."

"Says the one who managed to snatch the scholarship bursary award for his own program." Kanade interjected dryly and with a tone laced with mock sarcasm.

"…Hey! At least the admission requirements for UNIKII programs are not that tough, its' getting the scholarship that's tough." Yuuri argued his point, and the duo banter back and forth in a rallying way for some time before it was stop by a highly amused Serizawa Chieko.

"As amusing as your bantering rally are, I'm on a time limit here. So, the recital, are the two of you in or not?" Serizawa prompted.

"…Seriously speaking, why did you approach us two for this thing? Not that we're turning down the invitation, but I just wants to clarify some things to satisfy my curiosity. There are probably dozen of students under your guidance, both from the past and the present… but why pick us out of the rest specifically?" Kanade schooled his features into a neutral one as he directed his question towards Serizawa Chieko's direction.

"The venue rental costs are not cheap, and if I'm looking at recovering the cost I'd spend on the venues I need to get in famous people to attract in the crowds. Among all my students, the two of you tops the chart. Well, Haruka did fit the bill to a certain extent but I gathered enough from my conversation with your mother the other day that Haruka's schedule was already fully booked… but you, however…" Serizawa Chieko confessed.

"Okay, fine I'll do it! I need to fulfill a certain requirements for my repertoire as well, and unlike Yuuri I am not offered the chance to merge both majors requirements under the same group so I'm open to the idea of it. In return to performing in whatever recital concerts you have lined up for Kaori's benefits, I'm going to have you vouch for my participation in these programs." Kanade agreed almost immediately, and when Serizawa nodded her response to Kanade's request… her gaze flicked over to Yuuri prompting the figure skater for his response.

"I'm open to the idea as well, and in fact I was thinking of organizing a private concert event for my performance requirements before you brought this request up. Although I probably would not be able to take part that actively as Kanade did… with my competition and all. I'll still try my best to coöperate with you on this. Send me the details and list of venues once you had everything straightens out with the venue managers, I'll look over it and let you know which one I could do and which I couldn't do…" Yuuri told Serizawa eventually.

"Great, I'll drop the list to both of you later. I know there's one scheduled in November but I can't be sure… since I had my share of performance scheduled with various organizations. I'll check out the details later back at the hotel, and send you the relevant dates, time and venues for those I'm having the two of you involve in by tomorrow?"

"Sure, I'll just wait for your emails then." Yuuri nodded in response, and then go ahead to order some lunch for himself. They had been so engrossed in the discussion that they totally forgot about the fact that they were actually hogging up the seats without ordering anything. Thankfully, the place weren't all that crowded yet otherwise the waiter might not accommodate to their lack of food orders. This was after all, not the Starbucks café students tends to hang out and chat over a cup of coffee.

When Yuuri's food arrived, Kanade took one look at it and commented. "Are you sure you can eat that? That's a high calorie food, you know?"

"Unfortunately, there is not much healthy choice of food here… unless you counted the salads as a possible choice for lunch." Yuuri throws back with a roll of eyes, finding it irksome that Kanade actually had to point out something he already knew to him.

"True… so does that means you would be hitting the gyms for work-out later today?" Kanade asks.

"… Make that the next three days in fact, seeing as I had a slow metabolism rate… I had to increase my daily workout to keep up with my current weight." Yuuri responded in a flat tone, he was hungry and Kanade's questions are deterring him from enjoying his lunch.

"Kanade, stop talking and eat up. You are just jealous that Yuuri is free to choose what he wants to eat but you were place on a strict diet due to your vocal training instructions." Serizawa Chieko rolls her eyes at Kanade's antics.

"Oh right… fried food are bad for the vocal cords, no wonder you're sticking to salad." Yuuri realized then, Kanade was criticizing his choice of lunch while eyeing his plate of fried chicken with envy.

"…" Kanade caught on to the teasing look in Yuuri's eyes and groaned inwardly, before turning his attention back to his salad dish with a sigh. Why, oh why must his dear Aunt Chieko picked this place for lunch anyway. Can't the woman actually dined somewhere else without music playing in the background!? Well, it is true that jazz piano tunes are kind of stress reducing for the body and mind… but still the repertoire are always the same few famous pieces repeating itself. How the resident pianist not gets sick of playing it repeatedly, Kanade honestly do not knows. What he do knows is that the tune of 'Smoke gets in your eyes' is going to stuck in his mind for some time after today.

"Hm.m… that sounds familiar, what tune was that again?" Yuuri suddenly commented out of the blue, causing Serizawa Chieko to blink twice before catching on to the meaning behind Yuuri's words.

"Oh… that's the song 'Smoke gets in your eyes' quite a popular choice for music in piano bars." Serizawa Chieko responded, almost without the need to think about it.

"Ah… I thought it sounded familiar but I wasn't certain since I'm not that familiar with these kinds of repertoire." Yuuri mused while Kanade zoned out on the discussion, he was certainly in no mood to receive a history lesson from Serizawa Chieko with regards to the origin of this particular piece of music.

When the time comes for the duo to leave, Kanade was the first to hurry out of the door leaving Yuuri tailing him from behind with a funny expression.

"Was it really so stifling in there that you felt the need to escape?" Yuuri arched an eyebrow up in question as he caught up to Kanade over at the car park where the man had parked his car earlier.

"It's not a matter of stifling… it's a matter of my sanity at stake. I had enough of that song already!" Kanade admitted grudgingly.

"What's wrong with that song?" Yuuri wondered aloud with genuine interest.

"Nothing is wrong… the only problem is that it's been on repeating mode for far too many times that it had gotten itself stuck in my mind. That is most certainly counter-productive for my memorization of the song I'm supposed to focus on working. It's like… when one plays the song 'Fur Elise' too much on the piano that when they attempted to play Yiruma's 'River flows in you' without a score, they tend to mix up the two tunes because their starting were far too similar…" Kanade responded sounding a little desperate at trying to get his point across to Yuuri, and thankfully though Yuuri did manage to get the point this time around.

Yuuri did, after all, had met the problem of failing to recall the exact tunes of Yiruma's 'River flows in you' after playing Beethoven's 'Fur Elise' too many times on the piano without the score present in front of him.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 22/3/17.


	26. Chapter 26

To: yuurikatsuki1992 .jp  
From: sakuragi4life .jp

Subject: Pianist Service Required at Engagement Party

Hi Yuuri,

I'm not sure if you still remember me… but in case you don't, let me re-jogged your memory for you. I'm Nakagawa Takashi from your class back when we were studying in Hasetsu Chuo Elementary School. I was seated all the back in the class, three tables away from where you were seated.

In case, you're wondering, I got your contact information off Yuuko. Had to do a lot of pleading and begging in order to get your contact details. Anyway, back to the topic at hand – I'm getting engaged and I'm looking into the idea of getting in someone to play pianists at the event. However, I'm not familiar with any friends whom is skillful enough to do it for me FOC. When speaking of the issue with some friends of mine, someone brought up your name for consideration. Since apparently, you did some pianist service before you leave for US to further your education.

I was hesitant to the idea of approaching you at first since I don't really know you all that well, but I figured what's the harm of asking. I would really appreciate it if you could assist me in this, if you are unable to commit then perhaps you could be so kind to help refer me to someone else whom could do this thing for me at a reasonable rate. Either way, I'll be attaching the information/details to you below, and I look forward to receive a favorable reply from you soon.

Date: 26th November 2015

Time: 7 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.

Venue: Nagoya Blue Note.

Address: Japan, 〒460-0003 Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya, Naka Ward, Nishiki, 3 Chome−22−20, ダイテックサカエ

Regards,  
Nakagawa Takashi.

The moment Yuuri logged in to his private email account, not his school allocated email for school related contact but his very own private accounts for his correspondence with his family and friends alike in Japan. The first email that caught his attention was the one at the very top of his unread emails.

After re-reading the email twice, Yuuri had to admit he was tempted to do it but the main problem now is that if he does this as a pianist it would not be considered into part of his performance requirement since it has neither to do with his majoring subjects. Perhaps, he could consider to do it out of goodwill? After all, this year's NHK Trophy is schedule to take place in Nagoya as well and this engagement party is taking place the night before NHK Trophy is schedule to take place. So, it is very likely that Yuuri's already in the country by then…

Deciding to flag the email down as something to respond to after going through the rest of his unread emails, Yuuri move on to the next email message in line to be read. Deleting a few junk mails that somehow wormed through his filtering option and into his inbox, Yuuri finally managed to locate the email from his music instructor – Serizawa Chieko.

To: yuurikatsuki1992 .jp  
From: serizawa_chieko .jp  
CC: kanade_shinomiya92 .jp

Subject: Lists of Recital Events 2015/2016

Boys,

As spoken earlier, below are the lists of events planned. Please look over it and let me know which event you could attend.

1\. Mini Recital Event at Nagoya Bottom Line Cafe (Expected Audience: 130)

Date: 28th November 2015

Timing: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Itinerary:

Arrival of Performers + Set-up/Rehearsal Run (10 a.m. to 11 a.m.)

Doors Open: 11.30 a.m. to public

Event Start: 12.00 p.m.

Event End: 1.00 p.m. (1 hour to pack up & go)

2\. Klassik School of Music, Annual Concert 2015

Date: 1st December 2015

Venue: Ensemble Hall Murata (Small Hall at Kyoto Concert Hall)

Expected Audience: 500

Timing: 7 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. (4 Hours Block Booking)

Itinerary:

Set-up/Rehearsal/Reporting: 6 p.m. to 6.45 p.m.

Doors Open: 6.45 p.m.

Event Start: 7 p.m.

Interval: 8 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.

Event Resume: 8.30 p.m.

Event End: 9.30 p.m.

Pack up: 9.30 p.m. to 10 p.m

3\. Pre-Christmas Recital 2015 (Kyoto Branch Event)

Date: 15th Dec 2015

Venue: Kyoto Rag Live Spot

Timing: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. (1 hour to set up & rehearse, half hour after event to pack up)

Event Time: 2 p.m. to 3.30 p.m.

Repertoire Requirement: Free Choice (Christmas Related Recommended)

4\. Christmas Recital 2015 (Official – Kyushu Region)

Date: 24th Dec 2015 & 25th Dec 2015

Venue: Kitakyushu Performing Arts Center, Small Theater (24th Dec 2015), ACROS Fukuoka, Arena Hall (25th Dec 2015)

Timing: Kitakyushu Performing Arts Center, Small Theater (1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on 24th Dec 2015)

Timing: ACROS Fukuoka, Arena Hall (6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on 25th Dec 2015)

5\. New Year Count-down Festival Concert

Date: 31st Dec 2015

Venue: Hasetsu Community Center, Level 1 Multi Purpose Hall

Type of Event: Local Community Organized Voluntary Event

Audience Crowd: 400

Timing: 8 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. (30 Minutes Performing Segment)

So, these are the events for this year that I have listed/planned for Kaori to attend. The New Year Event is just for your information, as I'm not paying for the event hall for that particular event – feel free to decline attending. However, do let me know if you intend to join for the last listed event so I can plan the use of the 30 minute segment more wisely.

Please send me your response to the participation of above mentioned events the latest by the end of this week, so that I can have an easier time planning the program flow.

Regards,  
Serizawa Chieko

Co-Founder of Klassik School of Music.

Head of Piano/Flute Department (Saga, Kyushu Branch)

"Wow! That's a long list of events… are you going to do everyone of it?" Phichit whom had somehow arrived back to the dorm room without Yuuri's notice suddenly spoke up, startling Yuuri so bad that he rammed his knees into the side of his study desk.

"Holy shit! Don't scare me like that, Phichit!" Yuuri scolded, when he recovered from his shock at hearing Phichit's voice so near to his ears.

"Sorry, but I thought you heard me coming back in." Phichit apologized sheepishly as he dropped himself unceremoniously onto his bed in the room.

"Well… I didn't hear you coming in apparently. Anyway, to answer your previous question… no, I am not going to be doing everything on that list. I am however still going to print it out, so I can check them against my schedule book and speak to Celestino about re-adjusting the traveling plans a little easier than having to bring my laptop with me everywhere I go." Yuuri responded as he connected his laptop to the WIFI connection that links to the multi-purpose inkjet printer situated just down the corridor way where the common study room was.

The multi-purpose ink-jet printer with WIFI connection was recently installed by the school management at Franklin Hall. Apparently, some students had feedback to them about the hassle of having to head to the library just to get something printed out from their email account as the dormitory room does not come equipped with printing devices. Hence, the school after debating for a period of six months finally decided to install a common use multi-purpose inkjet printer in the common study area of the school dorm.

"I see… in that case, you'd better hurry. I heard Ciao Ciao mentioning that he's going to book the tickets to Nagoya for your NHK tournament later today." Phichit told Yuuri just then, which sends the fellow Japanese skater into a full blown mad dash for his phone.

"Celestino, I had something to discuss with you about. Don't book the tickets for Nagoya trip until I'm there!" Yuuri had all but throws out at the Italian coach the moment his call was answered on the other end.

"… Yuuri? Calm down, I haven't purchased the tickets yet… I'm still comparing prices between the different package deal. The budget allocated by the ISU weren't that much, and I do need your input on whether you prefer a comfortable stay in the country or you would prefer a comfortable flight journey instead." Celestino was telling Yuuri as he tapped away on his own laptop.

"Okay, so where are you now actually? Is it convenient for me to drop by for a chat?" Yuuri asks, as he logged out of his laptop leaving it on hibernate not trusting Phichit to not snoop around if he left it as it is.

"I'm at Detroit Skating Club's north entrance area where the Jone's Custom Skates is located. You know the area with chairs and tables for the general public to hang out while waiting to be served?" Celestino said through the phone connection.

"Yes, I know where it is. I'm quite familiar with them since that's where I rush through my homework assignments and catches up with my theory lectures notes after missing out on one of those lectures. I'll be there in ten minutes, so please do wait for me before you booked any hotels or tickets for NHK Trophy trip to Japan." Yuuri emphasized before he grab his backpack and access card as well as wallet from the study desk and stuff them all into his backpack while still holding on to his mobile phone. He ended the call with Celestino just as he head out of his shared dorm room with Phichit and move towards the common study area to pick up his print-out of Serizawa's email.

Once he checked that he had not left anything behind that he would need for his discussion with Celestino, Yuuri set off for the direction of Detroit Skating Club.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 23/3/17.


	27. Chapter 27

To Yuuri: Flight to Nagoya, Japan details as follows – Departing date: 25th November 2015 (Wed), 12.05 p.m. from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County International Airport (DTW) to Chubu Centrair Japan International Airport. Please be ready with your luggage by 9.30 a.m., I will meet you outside Detroit Skating Club and travel to the airport together with you.

To Celestino: Noted, I will be ready by 9.30 a.m. on 25th November 2015. Thank you for your help and I apologized for the troubles I had caused you all these while, once again. Do note that tomorrow (14th Nov), Saturday – I am unable to attend any training session at the DSC because I will be having replacement classes of four hours straight for two classes with only two hours lunch break in between.

To Yuuri: Noted, I will switch your training slot with Jeremy Parker for this weekend. Instead of tomorrow, come in on the 15th November (Sunday) instead.

To Celestino: Okay, I will see you on Sunday, 15th November for the training session then.

Setting aside the phone for it to charge, Yuuri took out the set of notes he had taken the liberty to collect from his lecturer for the pure theory elective module this term. Lessons that are fully theory based are not open to replacement arrangement, students are to catch up by the self-studying notes that would be uploaded to student's portal after the class was conducted or they could approached the lecturer in advance to get the hard copies of the notes earlier.

In addition to the theory exam, students whom missed the lecture session are to hand up an extra written report assignment in compensation for the loss of contact hours during the term of study. Yuuri, after much consideration, decided to collect his notes and assignments for the class two weeks earlier instead of waiting until the last minute.

The last time around, he had waited until the notes were upload to the student's portal before starting on the assignment and that causes him having to work on the report in his hotel room in Nagoya while preparing for the NHK Trophy. Granted, with the Internet and laptop at hand – researching for his report is not much of a hassle, but it still affects his sleep patterns greatly.

Henceforth, this time around – Yuuri wanted to get a headstart on it. While he would still be bringing his school texts and whichever necessary for his study along on his trip to Nagoya, Japan for the NHK Trophy Cup tournament – it would be for the sake of revision rather than rushing through his assignments for submission. He did, after all, had exams scheduled on the very next day after the NHK Trophy and revision is very much-needed despite the fact that this would be his second time attempting them.

Looking down at the list of modules he was taking this term, Yuuri was thankful that it was nowhere as heavy as what his first two years of study is like. Although, the module list has like six subjects listed on it but most of them only requires two hours of contact per week … and among them includes a certain module that caused Yuuri to flush red with crimson when his eyes landed on them – Pole Dancing.

Embarrassment still flooded him when he thought back to his drunken actions back to his first GPF experience the previous lifetime. What on earth possessed him to take up Chris challenge at Pole Dancing at the Banquet?! It was bad enough doing that in front of his practical examiner during the exam period, but to do it in public in a half-stripped attire?! The sheer thought of it was enough to send Yuuri burying his face in his hands, inwardly he was thankful that he was a blank-out drunk because that means he would not remember any of it. Even with the photos supplied by Chris and Viktor to prove his actions, his memory had fail to return.

The pole-dancing module is probably the bane of Yuuri's existence among all his dance related modules, but this is one of the module he couldn't consider dropping at all as it is part of the core module for his dance major related subject and it serves as a part of the compulsory physical exercise modules. Dance major students are exempt from having to do the general Physical Exercise classes as they have pole-dancing lessons scheduled in the class-schedule that also qualify as part of the PE syllabus. As for the rest of the student body, they get to pick between dance elective modules (Hip-hop, break-dance etc), or the general exercise programs (sports e.g. basketball, netball, volley ball etc. or gymnasium).

"Yuuri? Why are you trying to bury yourself under your books? Are you finally crumbling under the work pressure?" Phichit's voice suddenly spoke up and jolted Yuuri back into reality.

"No… I just remembered something embarrassing that's all. Speaking of, what on earth makes you pick pole-dancing for your PE?" Yuuri then recalled Phichit mentioning choosing pole-dancing for the PE module, and so decided to ask the fellow Thai skater.

"Hm..m…? Was that what had you burying yourself under the pile of books just now? Well, I picked pole-dancing because it looks interesting to attempt. I know it typically reminds people about night-clubs and all, but it really is a great way to train up physical strength and the moves are challenging." Phichit grinned as he responded, which had Yuuri smiling despite his own mortification at having to do pole-dancing in front of the examiners during the practical exam period and possibly again, in public if he got drunk during the Sochi Grand Prix Final banquet.

"I see… so how's the rehearsal for the musical going?" Yuuri then switched the subject over to the musical which Phichit was busying with over the recent weeks.

"So far so good, although it is a chore to have to memorize the lines for the show. I wonder how students from the theater studies managed, their lines are probably more than what was involved in a musical show." Phichit commented, after two weeks of training he had still yet to graduate from having to rehearse the scenes with his script unlike that elder Shinomiya whom was already rehearsing without the script on hand.

"Phichit… it's just been over two weeks, most of the cast still rehearse with script. There is no need for you to feel down, and please don't compare yourself with Haruka. That guy's practically made for acting, and he had participated in acting related activities since elementary school era apparently according to Kanade." Yuuri said, advising Phichit to take things slow.

"Enough about me and the musical, I heard from Celestino that you are staying in Japan after NHK Trophy?" Phichit then change the subject again, this time steering the conversation topic towards Yuuri's impending Japan trip.

"Yeah... so he'd told you already, huh? I am staying in Japan after the NHK Trophy since my exams starts on the very next day. Compared between coming back to Detroit or staying in Japan, obviously the latter won out since it's probably about two hours or so to get from Nagoya to Kyoto via the Japan's Rail Network. I can probably check out from the hotel in Nagoya on 30th November itself, and still get to the exam venue in time for the paper to start." Yuuri responded in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, he did not specified the exact time needed for him to travel from Nagoya to Kyoto campus because he needs to know which hotel they would be staying in Nagoya before he could calculate the exact traveling time between the two places.

"Well… it does make sense when you put it this way, so are you going to stay in a hotel during your exam period in Kyoto? I assume you won't be considering the idea of traveling to and fro between Nagoya and Kyoto?" Phichit put forth his next question in mind for Yuuri to answer.

"I haven't decided where to stay for my Kyoto's trip, but I most definitely would not be traveling to and fro from Nagoya. While the traveling time between Nagoya and Kyoto is very much shorter as compared to traveling between Detroit and Japan, the costs kind of varies between the mode of transportation chosen. A typical Shinkansen ticket cost about 5070 Yen for a non-reserved seat, and around 5500 Yen for a reserved seat but that's only one way trip fare so it could be pricey if I were to consider traveling to and fro between the two areas. Moreover, it might also involved several other train transits between the two areas since the Shinkansen typically only travel between the main station of the area. There is still the local train service costs that I need to considerate, luckily I have with me a SUGOCA issued by the JR Kyushu that had been made valid for use over all region of the country since 2013. All I need to do is to charge the card up with an amount that range between 500 to 1000 yen in one of the train stations in Nagoya, and I could easily use it for the local train services. I will need to charge the card up when the amount runs low, but that is alright since the charge machine could be found pretty much everywhere over the island." Yuuri was saying partly to Phichit and partly aloud to his own ears as though trying to organize his thoughts on a clearer scale.

"…" Phichit sweat-dropped upon Yuuri's response, how did he ended up getting a lecture on Japan's transportation cost between the two cities he had no idea. So, as Yuuri proceeded on to start outlining his travel budget and plans for the Nagoya to Kyoto trip, Phichit slowly shifted himself away and decided to hide out in the dorm's common lounge area for a while before coming back in.

Either way, Yuuri did not mind that Phichit had scrambled off sometime in the middle of his budgeting plans for his stay in Kyoto because he knew it sounds pretty boring to someone who is not considering going on a visit trip to the area. Doing some Google search on the Internet that pertains to the prepaid IC card that Yuuri had on hand is really informative, seeing as it has been sometime since Yuuri make use of the public transport network back in his homeland, Japan.

According to the Google search results, the JR Kyushu issued SUGOCA is now valid for use outside of the Kyushu region since 2013. This means, Yuuri could pretty much pays for his transport in Kyoto and Nagoya area just by charging up his SUGOCA instead of buying separate single trip tickets or paying the transport fare with cash. Granted, this was strictly restricted to transport within the local trains (both JR & Non JR operated) and buses rides, but not applicable for Shinkansen bullet train or limited express Train use. Regardless, this helps save Yuuri a lot of trouble when planning his itinerary while in Kyoto.

Due to budgeting reason, Yuuri decided to book a budget hotel for his stay in Kyoto. After sourcing on-line for some possible choice, he decided to book his stay with the Eco and Tec Kyoto – a two star budget hotel that is within a five-minute walk from Higashiyama station on the Kyoto Tozai Line. In addition, the time needed for him to travel from Kyoto main station to the hotel is only twenty minutes with a transit from the Karasuma Local Subway Line to the Kyoto Tozai Subway Line.

The hotel does not comes with elevator services hence Yuuri decided that it might be best for him to pack light otherwise it would be a hassle transporting all that luggage along with him during his stay at the hotel in Kyoto. Thankfully though, Eco and Tec in Kyoto is only a three level high hotel so even if he had to tug his luggage to his allocated room by himself after checking in – it would not be too tiring.

Another reason for his choosing the Eco and Tec is because the hotel comes with complimentary breakfast, which is quite rare for budget accommodation. Yuuri, when traveling alone prefers to work on a practical mindset and not to go for material comforts. Rather than booking his stay with a luxurious and comfortable lodging with a whole range of amenities that he was certain that he would have no time to enjoy, he would rather booked his stay with a budget accommodation with the basic comfort and necessity provided.

Besides, based on the reviews found on-line for Eco and Tec, it seems that their level of service is excellent for budget accommodation and its' location very much ideal and convenient.

A quick Google search using the maps function on the laptop, Yuuri found that Eco and Tec is only eighteen minute bus ride away from his exam venue – the UNIKII Kyoto Campus. Once certain of the fact that his SUGOCA could be used on bus services in Kyoto, Yuuri booked the hotel accommodation without hesitation.

Now Yuuri only needed to know which hotel Celestino had booked for their stay in Nagoya to figure out how long the traveling will take from the hotel in Nagoya to the Nagoya Train Station. He already knows that the time needed for traveling from Nagoya to Kyoto by Shinkansen range from thirty-six minute (Shinkansen Nozomi), forty minute (Shinkansen Hikari) and fifty-one minute (Shinkansen Kodama). So if he is lucky, he could easily keep the route plan under a two-hour travel. If the traveling time from Nagoya to Kyoto is within two-hour trip, then he could jolly well enjoy the breakfast at the hotel in Nagoya before checking out on the morning of 30th November.

He had, after all, scheduled his exam on 30th November to take place in the afternoon at Kyoto Campus as a measure of precaution since he cannot tell for sure what would be the traveling time needed from the hotel he was residing in Nagoya to the Nagoya Train Station when he put forth his submission to change exam venues at the Administrative office yesterday after his conversation with Celestino at Detroit Skating Club.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 25/3/17.


	28. Chapter 28

On the morning of 25th November, 2015 (Wednesday) – the day Yuuri is schedule to depart from Detroit for Nagoya, Japan. Yuuri had woken up promptly at 6 a.m. on the dot to do a last check on his packing done the previous evening. With a check-list on hand, Yuuri proceeds on with the task of checking items off his list that has already been packed for the trip.

Temperature in Nagoya, Japan for month of November is usually between 9 to 14 degrees Celsius and prone to rainfall. Seeing as Yuuri intends to stay on in Japan after NHK Trophy in Nagoya, and due to the lack of elevator for his hotel stay in Kyoto… his amount of luggage that he took along on the trip must be kept to a minimum otherwise it will be a chore transporting them from Nagoya to Kyoto and then to Hasetsu single-handedly.

"Was that really all you are taking along with you?" Phichit took a glimpse at his items check-list and questions with curiosity.

"Yes, well… I'm trying to travel light or as light as I could for this trip." Yuuri responded, as he glances down at his unzipped luggage suitcase.

There are two pairs of skates, which is logical since you would never know when you need the spare. Of course, there are the three sets of costumes for Yuuri's program use and the other skating related training gears. These are necessary items that cannot be removed from the luggage and so, Yuuri decided to pack lesser of his casual wear instead. He had a set of formal wear packed; it was more of the standard white shirt, tie, pants, belt and suit jacket and not the tuxedo. Not that he really need a tuxedo though, should he really found the need for one he could always resort to rental tuxedo for the performance occasion. The formal wear would do well enough for casual performance and for the banquet event after the NHK Trophy and Sochi GPF Banquet.

"But… there's only like three sets of casual wear, are you sure that's enough?" Phichit asks with a skeptical arch of his eyebrows, it is not as if that Yuuri is only going to stay in Japan only for the NHK Trophy in Nagoya. Three sets of casual wear seem a little too insufficient in Phichit's eyes.

"Its fine I could always have them laundered during my stay in the hotel, or I could always just buy new ones in Japan. Unlike skates, I don't need to break the clothes in." Yuuri responded he packed most of his outer wear in his carry on backpack, and kept his laptop in a separate TSA approved laptop bag.

"Okay… so where are you going to stash your flute case in?" Phichit asks next, eyeing the flute case still lying on Yuuri's bed innocently.

"…I'll store it in my carry-on backpack." Yuuri responded after a minute of silent consideration, since he didn't have much for his carry-on baggage yet so the flute case could probably fit into it.

Since his outer-wear mostly consists of a woolen scarf, a pair of gloves that is touch-screen friendly so he could use his smart-phone without the need to remove the gloves even. There is a winter jacket included, atop of the spring-autumn outdoor hooded wind-breaker that he is sporting on now. In the end, Yuuri managed to pack fit everything into both his carry-on baggage allowance (laptop bag as personal item, and a carry-on backpack) and a single checked-in bag under 23 kg.

When Celestino meet up with him on the front porch of Detroit Skating Club in order to travel with him together to the airport, the Italian coach was hardly surprise to find Yuuri standing outside the building with only three bags.

"You really do pack your things on practicality, aren't you? Phichit would have packed everything he could with him when he goes on competitions overseas." Celestino commented as he helps to load Yuuri's luggage into the car boot of the Taxi he had hired for their ride to the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County International Airport.

"I figured there isn't any need to pack basic necessity items since hotels do offer them as basic amenities." Yuuri responded, and seeing as this time around the destination is in Japan – he believe himself accustomed to the brand of toiletries amenities provided by the hotel hence do not foresee the need to bring along his own set, effectively cutting down on the amount of space his personal toiletries took up in his checked in baggage.

The taxi ride from Detroit Skating Club to the airport took about forty minute, and upon arrival both Celestino and Yuuri proceeded on to check in their baggage. Once the baggage check-in was completed, the duo then took their time finding a place for their lunch within the airport. Celestino took the chance to convert some of his US dollars on hand into Japanese Yen, while Yuuri decided to simply find an ATM when he landed in Nagoya to get his hands on the Japanese currency.

While having his lunch at the McNamara Terminal in the airport, Yuuri took the chance to drop a message off to Viktor about his being on his way to Nagoya, Japan in preparation of the NHK Trophy Cup. He choose not to call the Russian, since he wasn't sure if he would be intruding on Viktor's training time.

To Viktor: In the airport having brunch with Celestino, waiting for our flight to Nagoya, Japan. Just thought to let you know, in case you think I'm ignoring your messages again.

To Yuuri: Wow! Already… oh right, I keep forgetting you need time to sleep off the jet-lag. *sweat-drop*

To Viktor: Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to nap upon arrival to the hotel this time around. There is no direct flight to Nagoya from Delta Airlines on Tuesday, which means I have to transit in Narita Airport. I have an appointment to keep upon my arrival in Japan, so that means no nap for me in between check-in time at the hotel and dinner appointment. I will have to survive until after the dinner appointment before I could sleep off my jet-lag. Do expect my response to your message for the next twenty-four hours will be delayed.

To Yuuri: O_O Pre-arranged dinner appointment?! Are you sure you can handle that?! You don't really deal well with long distance flight from what I've remember…

To Viktor: I'll try to sleep it off during the flight; it might be easier this time around since I'm not feeling as much anxiety as my last experience.

To Yuuri: Well… it sure is assuring to know that you are not feeling as much anxiety for the NHK Trophy this time around. Nevertheless, I hope your anxiety level would not raise its ugly head when it's time for you to take to the ice. I will be watching it live from the TV broadcast over here in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

To Viktor: *sweat-drop* what happen to the promise of not giving me stress?

To Yuuri: *sigh* Yuuri, you have nothing to worry about as long as you do your routine the usual way you would during your practice. I really don't see why there is a need for you to panic when you don't during your music performance. Performing on stage and on ice isn't all that different, you know?

To Viktor: Logically I understand your point, but I cannot exactly control my mental state. As for what you'd mention about my performance on stage, I do get nervous before performing them as well. You didn't see me before I stepped on the stage – I was mostly shaking in my feet at that point of time. I was constantly reminding myself to stare far at the hall's walls instead of looking into the audience crowd to cope with the nerves. However, with the performance on the ice – its' different… there are no walls for me to fix my stare upon. Literally, every corner has someone staring at me waiting for my performance.

To Yuuri: Well… either way, just performs to the best of your abilities. If you can't deal with your nerves, feel free to call me – okay?

To Viktor: Thank you. I shall bear that in mind as I prepare myself mentally for the NHK Trophy.

The flight is schedule to take off from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County International Airport from McNamara Terminal at 12.05pm on the 25th of November, Wednesday and would be landing in Tokyo, Narita International Airport on the next day 26th November 2015, Thursday afternoon at 2.11pm after 13 hours 6 minute flight. After which, there is a waiting period of 1 hour 45 minute in Narita International Airport of Tokyo before the connecting flight to Chubu Centrair International Airport from ANA (All Nippon Airways) took off. The flight from Narita Airport to Chubu Centrair International Airport would take about 1 hour and 10 minute; it will land on the same day at 4.06 p.m. Adding in the amount of time needed for the custom clearance and baggage collection, by the time Yuuri and Celestino reaches the hotel which they will be staying it would be around 5.20 p.m.

Yuuri is schedule to arrive at Nagoya Blue Note latest by 6.45 p.m. to meet up with Mimasaka Kaori, whom he had referred to his elementary school mate – Nakagawa Takashi for the pianist's service at the man's engagement party. After much consideration, Yuuri had turned down the invitation to play pianist at the ex-school mate engagement party since he wasn't sure if he have the time to prepare for it beforehand and thus had referred his junior under Serizawa Chieko's guidance to do it in his stead.

However, Kaori being a shy-natured girl was apprehensive about doing it thus Yuuri had offered to go over in person to offer the female pianist with moral support. Besides, Nakagawa Takashi had expressed his wish to have Yuuri around to oversee that Kaori would not over-charged her service of playing pianist at the party. To compensate Yuuri for the time spend at the party event, Nakagawa Takashi had offered both Yuuri and Kaori complimentary dinner for their presence.

The hotel Celestino had booked for their stay is the Nagoya Kasadera Washington Hotel, a 3-star rating hotel that provides complimentary WIFI and breakfast service. It was pick out by Celestino partly because of its' convenient distance to the Nippon Gaishi Arena that would be serving as the NHK Trophy Cup Competition this time around. As Celestino had booked a taxi for their ride from the airport to the hotel, Yuuri would had some time in between after his check-in to the hotel and his needed presence at the Nagoya Blue Note.

"Celestino, feel free to settle your dinner on your own later… I would be meeting some acquaintance of mine so would not be available to keep you company for dinner." Yuuri said as he took his room card key from Celestino when the Italian man handed it over to him.

"Right, just take note not to stay out too late so you would get your ample amount of rest before the training session tomorrow morning." Celestino reminded before he took a step towards the lift lobby with his suitcase in tow.

"Trust me I won't, I need to sleep off my jet-lag as well. I'll make sure to come back as soon as I can." Yuuri assured Celestino as he turn down the offer of the hotel staff assisting him with his luggage and tug his suitcase after him while he followed Celestino's lead into the hotel's elevator.

By the time Yuuri settled into his hotel room, it was 5.40 p.m. The journey from Nagoya Kasadera Washington hotel to Nagoya Blue Note will take a little more than half an hour on public train ride. Seeing as Yuuri hadn't had the chance to charge his SUGOCA nor to check his card balance before his arrival to the hotel, he decided to forgo a shower that would take his spare time up and just did a quick change of his attire before leaving the hotel for the Kasadera train station, situated a six-minute walk away from the hotel building.

Before leaving the hotel building, Yuuri made sure that he went to the ATM situated near the hotel lobby to withdraw some cash since he wasn't certain if the charge machine at the train station took cards or not.

When Yuuri arrived at the destination, he was not surprised to find the figure of Mimasaka Kaori already waiting for him outside the live house restaurant.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Yuuri apologized automatically upon sighting the female.

"No, it's okay. I know your flight is schedule to land only hours before, and was kind of expecting you to arrive late." Mimasaka Kaori bowed back to Yuuri in response, blushing furiously as she did so. While they had conversed with one another often through emails, this is the first time they were meeting one another in person.

"Right, shall we head on in then? I do have to remind you that this is the first time I'm meeting Nagakawa-san after a decade or so, I might not recognize him either." Yuuri warned before his pulling the door leading to the inside of the restaurant open.

"YUURI, you made it!" A loud greeting sounded before Yuuri found himself having the wind knock out of him by a flash of yellow.

"Huh? What…?" Yuuri blinked, looking back down only to find him staring into the figure of Nishigori Yuuko.

"Yuuko-chan, what are you doing here in Nagoya?" Yuuri asked, sounding a little stupefied.

"Well…duh, I'm invited to the party of course!" Yuuko rolls her eyes at Yuuri in response.

"Oh… right, I forgot you are in contact with most of our classmates in elementary school." Yuuri mumbled back in response after digesting Yuuko's words.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 26/3/17.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

On the morning of 25th November, 2015 (Wednesday) – the day Yuuri is schedule to depart from Detroit for Nagoya, Japan. Yuuri had woken up promptly at 6 a.m. on the dot to do a last check on his packing done the previous evening. With a check-list on hand, Yuuri proceeds on with the task of checking items off his list that has already been packed for the trip.

Temperature in Nagoya, Japan for month of November is usually between 9 to 14 degrees Celsius and prone to rainfall. Seeing as Yuuri intends to stay on in Japan after NHK Trophy in Nagoya, and due to the lack of elevator for his hotel stay in Kyoto… his amount of luggage that he took along on the trip must be kept to a minimum otherwise it will be a chore transporting them from Nagoya to Kyoto and then to Hasetsu single-handedly.

"Was that really all you are taking along with you?" Phichit took a glimpse at his items check-list and questions with curiosity.

"Yes, well… I'm trying to travel light or as light as I could for this trip." Yuuri responded, as he glances down at his unzipped luggage suitcase.

There are two pairs of skates, which is logical since you would never know when you need the spare. Of course, there are the three sets of costumes for Yuuri's program use and the other skating related training gears. These are necessary items that cannot be removed from the luggage and so, Yuuri decided to pack lesser of his casual wear instead. He had a set of formal wear packed; it was more of the standard white shirt, tie, pants, belt and suit jacket and not the tuxedo. Not that he really need a tuxedo though, should he really found the need for one he could always resort to rental tuxedo for the performance occasion. The formal wear would do well enough for casual performance and for the banquet event after the NHK Trophy and Sochi GPF Banquet.

"But… there's only like three sets of casual wear, are you sure that's enough?" Phichit asks with a skeptical arch of his eyebrows, it is not as if that Yuuri is only going to stay in Japan only for the NHK Trophy in Nagoya. Three sets of casual wear seem a little too insufficient in Phichit's eyes.

"Its fine I could always have them laundered during my stay in the hotel, or I could always just buy new ones in Japan. Unlike skates, I don't need to break the clothes in." Yuuri responded he packed most of his outer wear in his carry on backpack, and kept his laptop in a separate TSA approved laptop bag.

"Okay… so where are you going to stash your flute case in?" Phichit asks next, eyeing the flute case still lying on Yuuri's bed innocently.

"…I'll store it in my carry-on backpack." Yuuri responded after a minute of silent consideration, since he didn't have much for his carry-on baggage yet so the flute case could probably fit into it.

Since his outer-wear mostly consists of a woolen scarf, a pair of gloves that is touch-screen friendly so he could use his smart-phone without the need to remove the gloves even. There is a winter jacket included, atop of the spring-autumn outdoor hooded wind-breaker that he is sporting on now. In the end, Yuuri managed to pack fit everything into both his carry-on baggage allowance (laptop bag as personal item, and a carry-on backpack) and a single checked-in bag under 23 kg.

When Celestino meet up with him on the front porch of Detroit Skating Club in order to travel with him together to the airport, the Italian coach was hardly surprise to find Yuuri standing outside the building with only three bags.

"You really do pack your things on practicality, aren't you? Phichit would have packed everything he could with him when he goes on competitions overseas." Celestino commented as he helps to load Yuuri's luggage into the car boot of the Taxi he had hired for their ride to the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County International Airport.

"I figured there isn't any need to pack basic necessity items since hotels do offer them as basic amenities." Yuuri responded, and seeing as this time around the destination is in Japan – he believe himself accustomed to the brand of toiletries amenities provided by the hotel hence do not foresee the need to bring along his own set, effectively cutting down on the amount of space his personal toiletries took up in his checked in baggage.

The taxi ride from Detroit Skating Club to the airport took about forty minute, and upon arrival both Celestino and Yuuri proceeded on to check in their baggage. Once the baggage check-in was completed, the duo then took their time finding a place for their lunch within the airport. Celestino took the chance to convert some of his US dollars on hand into Japanese Yen, while Yuuri decided to simply find an ATM when he landed in Nagoya to get his hands on the Japanese currency.

While having his lunch at the McNamara Terminal in the airport, Yuuri took the chance to drop a message off to Viktor about his being on his way to Nagoya, Japan in preparation of the NHK Trophy Cup. He choose not to call the Russian, since he wasn't sure if he would be intruding on Viktor's training time.

To Viktor: In the airport having brunch with Celestino, waiting for our flight to Nagoya, Japan. Just thought to let you know, in case you think I'm ignoring your messages again.

To Yuuri: Wow! Already… oh right, I keep forgetting you need time to sleep off the jet-lag. *sweat-drop*

To Viktor: Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to nap upon arrival to the hotel this time around. There is no direct flight to Nagoya from Delta Airlines on Tuesday, which means I have to transit in Narita Airport. I have an appointment to keep upon my arrival in Japan, so that means no nap for me in between check-in time at the hotel and dinner appointment. I will have to survive until after the dinner appointment before I could sleep off my jet-lag. Do expect my response to your message for the next twenty-four hours will be delayed.

To Yuuri: O_O Pre-arranged dinner appointment?! Are you sure you can handle that?! You don't really deal well with long distance flight from what I've remember…

To Viktor: I'll try to sleep it off during the flight; it might be easier this time around since I'm not feeling as much anxiety as my last experience.

To Yuuri: Well… it sure is assuring to know that you are not feeling as much anxiety for the NHK Trophy this time around. Nevertheless, I hope your anxiety level would not raise its ugly head when it's time for you to take to the ice. I will be watching it live from the TV broadcast over here in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

To Viktor: *sweat-drop* what happen to the promise of not giving me stress?

To Yuuri: *sigh* Yuuri, you have nothing to worry about as long as you do your routine the usual way you would during your practice. I really don't see why there is a need for you to panic when you don't during your music performance. Performing on stage and on ice isn't all that different, you know?

To Viktor: Logically I understand your point, but I cannot exactly control my mental state. As for what you'd mention about my performance on stage, I do get nervous before performing them as well. You didn't see me before I stepped on the stage – I was mostly shaking in my feet at that point of time. I was constantly reminding myself to stare far at the hall's walls instead of looking into the audience crowd to cope with the nerves. However, with the performance on the ice – its' different… there are no walls for me to fix my stare upon. Literally, every corner has someone staring at me waiting for my performance.

To Yuuri: Well… either way, just performs to the best of your abilities. If you can't deal with your nerves, feel free to call me – okay?

To Viktor: Thank you. I shall bear that in mind as I prepare myself mentally for the NHK Trophy.

The flight is schedule to take off from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County International Airport from McNamara Terminal at 12.05pm on the 25th of November, Wednesday and would be landing in Tokyo, Narita International Airport on the next day 26th November 2015, Thursday afternoon at 2.11pm after 13 hours 6 minute flight. After which, there is a waiting period of 1 hour 45 minute in Narita International Airport of Tokyo before the connecting flight to Chubu Centrair International Airport from ANA (All Nippon Airways) took off. The flight from Narita Airport to Chubu Centrair International Airport would take about 1 hour and 10 minute; it will land on the same day at 4.06 p.m. Adding in the amount of time needed for the custom clearance and baggage collection, by the time Yuuri and Celestino reaches the hotel which they will be staying it would be around 5.20 p.m.

Yuuri is schedule to arrive at Nagoya Blue Note latest by 6.45 p.m. to meet up with Mimasaka Kaori, whom he had referred to his elementary school mate – Nakagawa Takashi for the pianist's service at the man's engagement party. After much consideration, Yuuri had turned down the invitation to play pianist at the ex-school mate engagement party since he wasn't sure if he have the time to prepare for it beforehand and thus had referred his junior under Serizawa Chieko's guidance to do it in his stead.

However, Kaori being a shy-natured girl was apprehensive about doing it thus Yuuri had offered to go over in person to offer the female pianist with moral support. Besides, Nakagawa Takashi had expressed his wish to have Yuuri around to oversee that Kaori would not over-charged her service of playing pianist at the party. To compensate Yuuri for the time spend at the party event, Nakagawa Takashi had offered both Yuuri and Kaori complimentary dinner for their presence.

The hotel Celestino had booked for their stay is the Nagoya Kasadera Washington Hotel, a 3-star rating hotel that provides complimentary WIFI and breakfast service. It was pick out by Celestino partly because of its' convenient distance to the Nippon Gaishi Arena that would be serving as the NHK Trophy Cup Competition this time around. As Celestino had booked a taxi for their ride from the airport to the hotel, Yuuri would had some time in between after his check-in to the hotel and his needed presence at the Nagoya Blue Note.

"Celestino, feel free to settle your dinner on your own later… I would be meeting some acquaintance of mine so would not be available to keep you company for dinner." Yuuri said as he took his room card key from Celestino when the Italian man handed it over to him.

"Right, just take note not to stay out too late so you would get your ample amount of rest before the training session tomorrow morning." Celestino reminded before he took a step towards the lift lobby with his suitcase in tow.

"Trust me I won't, I need to sleep off my jet-lag as well. I'll make sure to come back as soon as I can." Yuuri assured Celestino as he turn down the offer of the hotel staff assisting him with his luggage and tug his suitcase after him while he followed Celestino's lead into the hotel's elevator.

By the time Yuuri settled into his hotel room, it was 5.40 p.m. The journey from Nagoya Kasadera Washington hotel to Nagoya Blue Note will take a little more than half an hour on public train ride. Seeing as Yuuri hadn't had the chance to charge his SUGOCA nor to check his card balance before his arrival to the hotel, he decided to forgo a shower that would take his spare time up and just did a quick change of his attire before leaving the hotel for the Kasadera train station, situated a six-minute walk away from the hotel building.

Before leaving the hotel building, Yuuri made sure that he went to the ATM situated near the hotel lobby to withdraw some cash since he wasn't certain if the charge machine at the train station took cards or not.

When Yuuri arrived at the destination, he was not surprised to find the figure of Mimasaka Kaori already waiting for him outside the live house restaurant.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Yuuri apologized automatically upon sighting the female.

"No, it's okay. I know your flight is schedule to land only hours before, and was kind of expecting you to arrive late." Mimasaka Kaori bowed back to Yuuri in response, blushing furiously as she did so. While they had conversed with one another often through emails, this is the first time they were meeting one another in person.

"Right, shall we head on in then? I do have to remind you that this is the first time I'm meeting Nagakawa-san after a decade or so, I might not recognize him either." Yuuri warned before his pulling the door leading to the inside of the restaurant open.

"YUURI, you made it!" A loud greeting sounded before Yuuri found himself having the wind knock out of him by a flash of yellow.

"Huh? What…?" Yuuri blinked, looking back down only to find him staring into the figure of Nishigori Yuuko.

"Yuuko-chan, what are you doing here in Nagoya?" Yuuri asked, sounding a little stupefied.

"Well…duh, I'm invited to the party of course!" Yuuko rolls her eyes at Yuuri in response.

"Oh… right, I forgot you are in contact with most of our classmates in elementary school." Yuuri mumbled back in response after digesting Yuuko's words.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 26/3/17.


	30. Chapter 30

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 30

Venue: Nagoya Blue Note – Nakagawa Takashi Engagement Party

Nakagawa Takashi had obviously went for the option of serving course menu instead of the more commonly seen option of buffet style dinner. Yuuri supposed it might be due to the fact that the groom to be does not have that much people to invite for the occasions. Customers invited to his engagement party are to hand over their invitation to the staff tending to the restaurant door before they were lead to their respective reserved seats in the restaurant. The Nagoya Blue Note restaurant could easily hold 185 people using table seating arrangement or 370 person if using the standing buffet style arrangement.

For Nakagawa Takashi's party, Mimasaka Kaori is obviously the performer while Yuuri is a fellow guest of the event. Nagoya Blue Note operated on a basis that should there still be available seating after the guests invited to the party event had shown up, they would be opening up the remaining tables to the general public or other guests whom decided to show up as a tag-along to another invited guest for the event.

"Yuuko, if you're here in Nagoya… what of the triplets? Did you bring them along too?" Yuuri asks after he was all but dragged over to the table where Yuuko sat and forced down on to an empty seat. Kaori, unsure of what to do under this situation, tagged along for the trip as well.

"Nah… I left Takeshi to deal with the triplets back at home, the girls can get a little too rowdy at times and I don't really want to bring my family drama over to Nakagawa's party." Yuuko responded with a shrug before calling out for the attention of Nakagawa Takashi.

"Nakagawa, seeing as the two of you had not met up with one another over a decade – I shall take it upon myself to introduce the two of you to each other again." Yuuko announced before she gestured over to Yuuri and told the organizer of this event. "This is Yuuri Katsuki, the current top ace of JSF since the retirement of Nobunari Oda."

"… The JSF part of the introduction is a little redundant, Yuuko…" Yuuri sweat-dropped when he heard the way Yuuko had introduced him.

"What? I just want him to know how much of a busy person you are, the NHK Trophy is after all starting tomorrow and yet you still took the time off to come by for his event just for the sake of setting his mind at ease about the pianist you had referred to him for this party event." Yuuko responded, blinking at Yuuri innocently as she did so.

"… Pardon me for sounding dim-wit, but what does JSF stands for?" Nakagawa Takashi asks with a look of confusion, for someone who doesn't follows figure skating at all – not knowing the meaning behind the acronym of JSF honestly wasn't all that hard to relate.

"Please ignore Yuuko, it really wasn't that much of an inconvenience. I mean you're sponsoring me dinner in a way, so I should probably thank you for it. To answer your question, JSF stands for Japan Skating Federation." Yuuri ignores the looks directed his way from Yuuko, and assured Nakagawa that there is nothing for him to concern with.

After which, Yuuri went on to introduce Kaori to Nakagawa and told his ex-elementary school mate that Kaori had prepared a variety of choices for today's performance. However, it might be best for Nakagawa to go over it once before the performance officially starts. Nakagawa have the freedom of choice to select the pieces he wants for the pianist to play during the performance, since it is Nakagawa's engagement party. There is just one thing Nakagawa has to bear in mind, which is the requested song must be chosen from the list of repertoire choices prepared by the pianist.

Yuuri had informed Kaori in advance to prepare songs of both classical and pop genres, since he wasn't certain if Nakagawa knows how to appreciate classical music or not. Turns out his advice prove to be good, since all the songs selected by Nakagawa to be play during the party falls under the pop music genre. It include tunes like 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight', 'From This Moment', 'I Will Always Love You' and the all time favorite tune of 'My Heart Will Go On'. Of course, there are some classical tunes being chosen as well but those are the famous tunes such as 'Canon in D' that is so popular that even someone without proper music background would know how it sounds like.

Once Kaori officially took to the stage and start off the performance without a hitch, Yuuri started to divert his attention back to Yuuko.

"So how did Nishigori feel about having to stay behind with the triplets?" Yuuri wonders out loud, as he started to imagine what it would be like for his other friend with Yuuko away.

"He was grouchy about it, of course… but he didn't want to come for the party claiming he doesn't know Nakagawa well. Then again, that is expected since Takeshi was one year above us in school… and Nakagawa falls under the heart-throb category that Takeshi most certainly isn't. So, it really is not a surprise that Takeshi claims to not know Nakagawa well enough to be invited as a fellow guest for the party.

"Heart-throb… right, he used to be the ace striker of the school's soccer team?" Yuuri started hesitantly since he couldn't quite remember his elementary school happenings that clear due to the memories being a few decades old for him.

"It's actually the baseball team, Soccer isn't that popular back in our elementary school days." Yuuko responded, before turning the conversation topic away from Nakagawa Takashi and decided to focus on something else.

"I heard that you're coming back home after NHK Trophy, is that true?" Yuuko asks.

"To be exact, I'm coming home after my exams in Kyoto. Obviously, it's more logical for me to take the exam in Japan rather than going back to Detroit for it because it's on the very next day after the NHK Trophy Cup." Yuuri corrected Yuuko's words, inwardly wondering if Yuuko had heard from his parents' about his homecoming trip prior to her arrival in Nagoya for Nakagawa's party event.

"Oh… so are you going back to Detroit after your home visit?" Yuuko then asks.

"It all depends I guess, if I manage to get on the podium for NHK Trophy – it basically seals my position as a fellow competition for the Grand Prix Finals in Sochi. If that is the case, I will be meeting Celestino directly in Sochi instead of going back to Detroit first." Yuuri responded as he outlined his plans for the month of November and December to Yuuko.

"If that's the case, what are you going to do with the training of your skating?" Yuuko then bring her next question up to Yuuri.

"I won't be skating much in Kyoto since I need to revise for my exams and all… that, and I don't think Kyoto has a lot of skating rinks available for use. The only one I could think of is the Kyoto Aquarena which usually serves as a pool facility, the rink is only open for use from November to March period but it's like a whole 40 minute away from where I would be staying for my Kyoto trip. So, I don't think I will be skating much in Kyoto but I will still keep up with the daily exercise regimen though. Therefore, I think I will only restart my rink training when I'm back in Hasetsu, which means I probably need to arrange my training schedule with you later on if possible." Yuuri admitted to Yuuko, but has no inclination to start planning his training schedule in the midst of their elementary school mate's engagement party event.

"Sure, just call me or drop me a text with the dates and time – I will forward them to Takeshi so we can pre-booked you for those days you need the rink for private training." Yuuko told Yuuri with a bright cheerful smile.

"I will let you know the details tomorrow, speaking of how long are you planning to stay in Nagoya?" Yuuri then asks, somehow he had a feeling that coming over to Nagoya for Nakagawa's party is not the only motivation for Yuuko's trip.

"Well… I would be supporting live in person this time around, aren't you touched by my actions?!" Yuuko smile a bright grin at Yuuri, that caused the Japanese skater to sweat-drop in response.

"… Is Nishigori even aware that you are not just taking an overnight trip?" Yuuri found the sides of his lips twitching in response, as he brought his question up to Yuuko.

"Of course he do knows, even if I didn't admit to him outright. He knew how much a fan of figure skating I am, there is no way for me to miss watching the NHK Trophy live in person when it's taking place so close to me." Yuuko announced proudly as she declared her response to Yuuri's question.

"Ah… I just realized my respect for Nishigori had grown again." Yuuri mumbled somewhat incoherently under his breath. No doubt, the triplets would be kicking up a fuss over Yuuko forsaking them in Hasetsu just to catch his performance live at the NHK Trophy. Thank god Viktor is nowhere around this time, Yuuri found himself thinking… because that would send Yuuko into a cardiac arrest, most likely. Speaking of, best not to bring up the mention of Viktor – it might remind Yuuko of that circulating rumor of how Viktor's a fan of his…

For a 1.5 hour piano solo performance in a party setting, the typical rate in the US would be about USD$150 and when converted to Japanese Yen, it would be around 16,000. Seeing as it wasn't Yuuri's who took up the piano playing role this time around, and his main motive is to get Kaori to settle her pre-performing nerves problem. The rate for Kaori's performance this time around was lowered down to the amount of 8,000 Yen which is usually the Category 3 price range for a concert event in proper concert hall. Yuuri took a 25% out from the amount paid as referral fee, and Kaori gets to keep the balance 6,000 Yen.

While 2,000 Yen is not a lot, but it helps to pay for Yuuri's cab ride back to his hotel. He was too tired to take the train back and hence decided to take a cab instead. The cab fee in Japan is high, ridiculously high that usually people only took cab when they were in a rush or they really had no idea where their destination was or when they are traveling in a group that makes the task of splitting costs easier. The cab ride from Nagoya Blue Note to the hotel Yuuri is staying lasts less than twenty minute long, and by the time Yuuri stepped out from the cab he was nearly dead on his feet. Somehow, he managed to last until he entered his hotel room before dropping down to his bed and fell asleep the moment his head hits the pillow.

He slept so soundly that he was completely dead to the world, and had to wake up to Celestino's relentless calls on his mobile and incessant knocking on his room's door.

"Sorry, I must have slept through my alarm." Yuuri apologized as he stumbled out of bed to answer the door for Celestino.

The Italian coach took one look at Yuuri, and promptly push the Asian into the attached bathroom. "Go and take a shower, remember to make yourself presentable before coming out. You look like a mess."

"…" Yuuri sighed, staring into his reflection on the bathroom's mirror – he had to admit he does indeed look like a mess. His hair was completely messed up from his sleep, and he had imprints of the duvets on his left cheek.

With a shake of his head, he stepped into the shower cubicle for his much overdue shower session. After refreshing his mind under the running water from the shower head, Yuuri found himself mentally going over his task list for the day. Obviously, he needs to check his phone for any possible message from Viktor and then he needs to send Yuuko the dates he would be back in Hasetsu and make arrangement for his skating session at Ice Castle Hasetsu. That reminds him, he need to drop a message off at Tsukishiro Asami and see if the female coach is free to drop by Hasetsu to play supervisor to his training session.

His morning routine of teeth brushing and face-wash came after the shower this particular morning, while at it he did a grooming shave around his chin area as well. It seems that he was starting to sport vague signs of beard under his chin, no wonder Celestino emphasized on his need to make himself presentable. He was no Christophe Giacometti and performing with a beard stubble under his chin for his routine just isn't his style…

When Yuuri finally reappeared in front of Celestino, the Italian coach ran his eyes across the result of Yuuri's grooming shave and finally nodded his approval which allows Yuuri to heave a sigh of relief.

"Good, now you look ready to meet the world. Shall we make our way to the restaurant for breakfast then? After the breakfast, we will start hitting the rink. We probably could get a few hours of training fits in before the official opening ceremony for the NHK Trophy took place." Celestino was telling Yuuri.

"Sure, let's get our breakfast then." Yuuri agreed, and the duo started heading for the direction where the hotel's buffet restaurant was.

The hotel does not provide free complimentary breakfast service, breakfast however is available at a surcharge of 1,000 Yen per person upon check-in request. Celestino pick the Nagoya Kasadera Washington Hotel with the mindset that it is located near to the venue of NHK Trophy in mind, and that the rate for this hotel is well within the budget allocated by the JSF and ISU combined. Even with the additional costs incurred for breakfast service, there are still some spare amount of budget left and hence Celestino went ahead with the option of getting breakfast service at the hotel instead of going through the hassle of finding another place for breakfast meal around the area.

Breakfast menu is light for Yuuri, and for a while Celestino wonders if it was Yuuri's anxiety at work again since the Asian never eats much prior to a competition due to the underlying current of anxiety. This time around though, it seems like Celestino was very much mistaken.

"No, I'm not getting jittery from the competition. I'm just still full from last night's dinner… and besides it's not good to eat a full meal before training because the jumping movements on the ice may upsets a fully fed stomach." Yuuri explained, nibbling away at a piece of toast with a cup of coffee.

"I see… how are you coping though? You seem not to be as anxious as your past experience at competitions, are you finally getting accustomed to the idea of competing?" Celestino could not help but wonders.

"…Is that so? I don't know, maybe I am indeed getting use to the competing environment. Or I could simply just be assured by the familiarity around here. I'm always more at ease while competing in Japan anyway." Yuuri responded eventually, as he nibbled away on his breakfast toast.

Closing his eyes momentarily, Yuuri tried to get a good read on his mental health status. The anxiety is still there, throbbing away in the very depth of his mind. It didn't look like it's going to overtake his logical sense of mind anytime soon, but Yuuri decided to keep his guards up either way. After breakfast, when Yuuri headed back up to his hotel room to collect his training gears before heading off to the rink on foot since it's only a 10 minute walk away.

Yuuri took his flute case with him on the trip as well, just in case he felt suffocated while waiting for his turn to take to the ice – he could always escape to the outside of the arena for some flute fingering practice. Actually, piano practice works better but you don't get the chance to find a piano easily near a sports facility so the flute would have to do under such circumstances.

Granted, he always have the option of calling Viktor up to soothe his fraying nerves but he didn't want to keep Viktor away from the man's own training session. So, calling Viktor would remains as a last resort for Yuuri.

If Celestino was surprised by the appearance of Yuuri's flute case, he did not make any comments about it. The warm up takes place without a hitch, and Yuuri's did not flub any of his jumps in the warm up session. Wanting to keep his addition of the quadruple Salchow a secret from fellow competitions, Yuuri did not try to attempt any during the warm up session keeping his jumps to the axel and toe loops instead.

~ to be continue ~

Date completed: 27/3/2017.


	31. Chapter 31

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 31

To VNikiforov: Hey, when did you say you want me to pass that gift of yours over to that Katsuki skater? I think I just saw him come in with that Italian Coach of his, do you want me to give it to him now?

"Elena! What are you doing?" Boris Anishin, Elena's ice-dancing partner and elder brother by a year calls out to her when she fail to move an inch from her current place.

"Nothing, just messaging someone." Elena Anishina responded with a shrug as she stuff her mobile phone back into the pocket of her Team Russian Jacket.

A few minute later, Elena received a response from the VNikiforov person on her messaging app informing her to put the gift on hold until the last day of the NHK Trophy. 29th November 2015 would be the last day of the NHK Trophy Cup, and Elena was to pass that gift over to Katsuki only on that very day.

Venue: Russia, Saint Petersburg – Indoor Ice Rink that serves as Team Russia Home Rink.

Viktor Nikiforov was still staring down at his phone when it suddenly blares to life startling him so badly that he nearly dropped his phone in shock.

"Yes, Yakov? What do you want?" Viktor sighed as he answered his still blaring phone with a look of resignation on his face.

"Where were you? I thought I told you that I want to go through your transition flow from the jump sequence to the spin sequence today?" Yakov's tone was gruff as he demanded for Viktor's whereabout through the phone connection.

"…If you would please raise your head, you could most probably spot me from your current standing place." Viktor sighed out loud, as he told Yakov through the phone connection.

The time now is 8 a.m. local Saint Petersburg time, which makes it around 2 p.m. in the afternoon in Nagoya, Japan. The NHK Trophy Cup Opening Ceremony shall be taking place about now, he had the TV on in the lounge and was looking forward to watch it in peace when Yakov decided to call him up on the phone. Looks like his plan of watching the NHK Trophy Cup in peace was not progressing smoothly enough, maybe he ought to strike some bargain with Yakov so to make sure that he can get to see Yuuri's performance on time?

Truth be told, if it wasn't for that he had accidentally forgotten to pay his Cable TV subscription fee that resulted in his TV being rendered useless this morning… he wouldn't have bother with coming in this early to make use of the rink's lounge facility at all. It was at times like this that he found himself missing Yuuri's presence in his life tremendously. The Asian practically serves as his organizer, for most if not all the time. When it comes down to the time for him to make his monthly subscription fee, be it utilities or other miscellaneous payment – Yuuri would always lay the invoices out where he could see them plain as day thus making it impossible for him to not notice them until he had his service disrupted for the day because of overdue payments.

"…" Yakov stare at Viktor for a minute, before looking towards the time reflected on his phone and then turn his eyes upon Viktor once more. The nearly seventy year old Russian coach slowly tap on the 'disconnect' button on his phone screen and made his way up the stairway leading to the lounge area of the rink.

"Did the sun rise from the west direction today?" Yakov asks still looking at Viktor strangely.

"No, Yakov… I am quite certain the sun still rise from the east today." Viktor deadpan his reply as he answered Yakov's rhetorical question.

On the other side of the lounge, Mila Babicheva did not bother to hide her snort of amusement from both Viktor and Yakov's hearing range. To which, both Viktor and Yakov reacted in about the same way – by shooting Mila a glare of mild annoyance from their direction.

"That was a rhetorical question." Yakov commented dryly after turning his attention away from Mila and back to Viktor.

"I know… and before you ask, I did not wake up on the wrong side of my bed this morning either." Viktor commented equally in a dry tone of voice.

Yakov's eyebrow twitches in annoyance, obviously irked by Viktor's remarks. Seriously though, dealing with Viktor is most definitely not an easy chore. Mostly because he can never tells what the young man was thinking all the time. If he thought the Viktor from before was bad enough, the Viktor after recovering from the sudden bout of depression a week before the Grand Prix Finals Qualifying Tournament was even worse.

For some unfathomable reasons, Viktor was being too interested in one Yuri Plisetsky's progress. For instances, when Yuri's school called and informs of the truancy acts which Yuri had it in him to attempt – Viktor had gone on ahead to lecture the blond when it should really be Yakov's responsibility to do so. After all, Yakov is the registered legal guardian of Yuri Plisetsky when the boy is staying in Saint Petersburg to train as a professional figure skater.

Rubbing the front of his forehead with his right hand, Yakov exhales as he voice his words across to the silver-haired skater. "What do you want now? You wouldn't have come in before 10 or without me calling you over without a reason of your own. So, what is it this time around?"

"Can we possibly finish up our training session before 11.30 a.m. today? I want to watch the NHK Trophy Senior Men's Short Program on TV later." Viktor states his requests, glancing over to the TV corner where Georgi and Mila is settle in front of.

Yurio, however, was nowhere around but it wasn't surprising since today is a school day. Still, with Yurio's schedule – the boy should be coming in no later than noon hours since the education hours in Russia is shorter than most countries. Speaking of Yurio, that boy has kicked up a fuss about wanting to drop out from school for some time now to focus fully on figure skating.

While it remains Yurio free choice to decide on what he wanted to do upon reaching the age of 15 where dropping out from school is possible with legal guardian's permission, Viktor had hoped that the teen would at least finished up the year before discontinuing the education altogether. Not that it would matters much with Yurio pretty much earning a living for himself by being a competitive figure skater, but its' just a matter of having gain the proper secondary education certification would look better on the résumé.

Either way, that is just his opinion and while he could offer his advice on this issue. He has no way of enforcing it since he wasn't the legal guardian of Yurio. Yakov had made it pretty clear that he would respect Yurio's decision when it comes down to it. Of course, Yurio being Yurio would first seek permission from his grand-father staying in Moscow first before doing anything. That, Viktor supposed is better than nothing… and hopefully Nikolai Plisetsky would share his opinion on the issue of having Yurio graduate properly from the compulsory eleven years education scheme which Russia is operating on.

Back to the NHK Trophy Cup schedule for today; it goes something like this. The opening ceremony would starts at 2 p.m. Nagoya, Japan time and should not last more than half an hour. After which, it will kick off officially with the Ladies' Short Program, follows by the Short Dance program by the Ice-Dancing participants. The Men's Short Program would start after the short dance schedule, and the Pairs' SP will go last for the day. The second day the schedule will shift around, with the Pairs' Long Program going first; follows by the Men's Free Skate; the Long Dance program and ends with the Ladies' Free Skate program. The awards ceremony would take place after, and on the 29th of November - the last event day for the NHK Trophy – that will be when the Exhibition Gala will take place.

The schedule was given to Viktor earlier on in the day by Yuuri, but due to his forgetting to pay his subscription fee to both the Cable TV and Internet connection. Viktor fail to see it until he stepped out of his apartment unit with his mobile data plan activated. Luckily, Viktor is not that forgetful about paying his mobile phone subscription plan so at least he still had his mobile-data to fall back on for his daily communication routine with Yuuri. Although, the Asian occasionally would reply him a few hours late or even a day late due to the busy schedule the other man was keeping up with.

Speaking of Yuuri, his phone buzzed with an incoming message from the Asian just as he looked back down on his phone screen. Automatically, Viktor swiped his phone screen and activated the Whatsapp and take a good look at the message content from Yuuri.

To Viktor: Just finish drawing lots, I would be going first later for the SP. Wish me luck, would you?

To Yuuri: Of course I would, good luck my dear! 333 *insert kisses icons x 3*

Viktor would have added a line about hoping to see Yuuri win gold or achieves another personal best if his logic did not catch him up on the little detail that it might end up giving his beloved Yuuri unnecessary stress. So, in order not to present as an extra stress factors to Yuuri, Viktor kindly refrained from adding that last sentence to his message reply.

With the message send out to Yuuri, Viktor proceeds on to follow Yakov out from the lounge where the TV was and headed back downstairs to where the rink were. He had every intention to finish his training session before 11.30 a.m. today, and so he make sure he performed exactly the way Yakov instructed for him to. Because he knew the more obedient he is to Yakov's advice today, the lesser chance of the old man holding him back from his plan of watching Yuuri skate on TV.

Georgi Popovich was only watching the NHK Trophy competition out of the obligation to support his friend – Boris Anishin, whom is participating in the tournament under the Ice Dancing segment representing Russia. He was more than ready to leave the lounge for his own training session when Viktor came buzzing back into the room with unbidden excitement.

"Has it started yet?" Viktor had looked straight at Georgi as he voice his question.

"I beg your pardon? Has what started yet?" Georgi Popovich is confuse, and so he decides to clarify.

"The Men's SP for NHK Trophy, has it begun yet?" Viktor's response came almost immediately.

"Erm… no, there's still another Ice-dancing routine before the Men's SP will start from what I've seen from the subtitle of the announcement onscreen just now." Georgi responded and was about to move away when he ended up being tugged back to the front of the TV by an excited Viktor.

"Goody good, now you can see how good Yuuri is with his footwork!" Viktor announced cheerfully.

"Since when Yuri is good with footwork anyway?" Mila Babicheva piped up from where she is sitting then, drawing both Viktor and Georgi's eyes upon her.

"No, Mila… no… you'd misunderstood. I am not talking about the kiddo Yuri whom is our rink-mate and still under the Junior level. I am talking about the Yuuri Katsuki from Japan!" Viktor paused for a moment before he recovered himself and clarifies yet again with Mila. Sometimes it is so frustrating that people on the Russian Team tends to think of the wrong Yuri when he says the name of his beloved.

"Oh… you mean the skater whom you are a fan of? The one whose face was stick to the inside of your locker and possibly your room of your apartment unit as well?" Mila blinked before comprehension dawns on her.

"Yes! That's the one!" Viktor beamed so brightly that it almost hurts to look, and both Mila and Georgi shared a look among themselves before shaking their head in unison and turn back towards the TV instead.

'Oh boy… Viktor looks completely smitten by that Yuuri Katsuki from Japan. Let's hope the Asian man would not be scare off by Viktor's over-enthusiastic behavior should they ended up meeting in Sochi for the GPF.' Mila was inwardly thinking to herself as she shifted her eyes back to the TV screen to watch the rest of the NHK Trophy event in peace.

Meanwhile, down in the lockers' room where the soon-to-be fifteen-years old Yuri Plisetsky sneeze aloud as he sat on the bench to change into his skates for practice.

"You're not getting sick, are you? The Grand Prix Finals are coming up, it would not do you any good to get yourself sick now." Yakov was telling Yuri as the boy laced his skates while seated on the bench in the lockers' room.

"No Yakov, I am most certain that I am not sick. I suspect the sneeze is just a sign of someone badmouthing me behind my back or something." Yuri Plisetsky muttered sullenly in response to his coach words.

Meanwhile, 7507 kilometers away in Nagoya – Japan… Yuuri was running through his third round of scales and arpeggios on his flute when he was interrupt by his childhood friend, Nishigori Yuuko.

"Yuuri, it's about time for you to go back in. The Ice Dance segment is just about finishing, and soon it will be the start of the Men's Short Program segment. You're going first, aren't you?" Yuuko reminded as Yuuri turns around to face her.

"Thank You, let's go back in then." Yuuri said to Yuuko as he finally stop in the midst of his fingering practices.

Back inside the arena, Yuuri bade farewell to Yuuko who is heading for the spectator stands while he headed towards the rink side. He met Celestino by the entrance way, receives a nod in response for his re-appearance before proceeding on with the task of cleaning the interior of his flute before putting them nicely back in the case that holds his flute.

"Are you ready, Yuuri?" Celestino asks just as Yuuri finished lacing up his skates and finished with some simple stretching exercise. Yuuri had earlier switch his skates for his sneakers when he felt the need to step out for some air, and practices on his flute. He had specifically informs Yuuko to come over and fetch him at least fifteen-minutes before the Short Program segment for the Men started so he could have enough time to stretch and change back into his skates before he took to the ice officially.

"As ready as I could be, you know I'm never going to-be 100% ready for the competition so that's a bit of a redundant question." Yuuri commented as he remove his skate guards and hand them over to Celestino while he stepped upon the ice to prepare for his impending program.

~ to be continue~

Date completed: 28/3/17.


	32. Chapter 32

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 32

Yuuri took a few laps around the ice as warm up before gliding to his starting point on the ice and took his routine opening pose, his routine for short program mostly remains the same with the exception that this time his first jump is the compulsory Triple Axel. This time around, his Triple Axel was land cleanly and the transitions from the Axel jump into the connecting step sequence is beautifully executed as well.

When the music come to a close, Yuuri's movement on the ice glided to a stop as well. Yuuri took a minute to bow at the audiences and waited for a few seconds before he heard the deafening screams and applause from the audience seating. Randomly, he pick up a mini dog plush as he exited the ice and made his way over to the Kiss and Cry corner to meet up with his coach, Celestino.

"Well done, Yuuri! That is the most stable performances from you to date. All your jumps were land cleanly, so I believe you can receive a decent TES for today's performance." Celestino was telling Yuuri who nodded absent-mindedly, and sat waiting at the Kiss and Cry waiting for the announcing of his scores for the short program. 

Yuuri's short program results is a 95.55, way higher than his performance in Skate America when Viktor was around to support him. Yuuri blinked when he found himself being ambushed by Yuuko outside of the competitors area.

"Yuuko?" Yuuri blinked, still reeling from the shock that he had managed to score a new personal best record for his short program.

"Yuuri! You do so well out there! If I didn't know any better, I would have thought your anxiety problem is finally cured!" Yuuko beams at Yuuri proudly as she give Yuuri a tight hug that sends the Japanese skater into a blushing mess.

"Yuuko… do calm down, and please let go of me. I don't want a scandal involving you to occur, Nishigori would have my head for it." Yuuri pleaded when he noticed some people from the media hanging around the corner waiting to ambush him for an interview most likely.

To Yuuri's utmost surprise, Yuuko laughed upon hearing his words. It took a few minutes for Yuuko to regain her control over her laughter as she responded. "No need to worry about those paparazzi reporters hanging around the corner. They are not waiting to ambush you, the Y2K Boys are having a concert next door at the Nippon Gaishi Hall – they are waiting to ambush them instead."

"Oh… wait, they are having a concert here? Aren't they having it at Zepp Nagoya?" Yuuri blinked, completely stunned by Yuuko's words.

"Yes, well… they are having concert shows for three nights in a row. For both today and tomorrow, they are doing it at Nippon Gaishi Hall and on the 29th of November – they are having it at Zepp Nagoya." Yuuko responded easily with a shrug, usually she doesn't pay much attention to pop bands and all… but Y2K Boys were different.

"…No wonder I thought I heard someone screaming Takumi's name before I entered the arena… I thought it was my ears playing tricks on me." Yuuri deadpan after a minute of silence.

"No, you weren't. The fans of Y2K Boys were most definitely screaming for Takumi earlier on before your return to the arena to prepare for your program. It coincides with the timing that Y2K Boys made their arrival at the hall next door, I strongly believe Mari hang up on me the minute she landed her eyes upon Takumi." Yuuko was telling Yuuri, and Yuuri rolls his eyes at Yuuko's words.

"Why am I not surprised that she ditches me for the prospect of seeing a live concert of Y2K Boys? Well, is she going to join us for supper then?" Yuuri then turn towards Yuuko and asks.

"I should believe so? Let me call her up and check." Yuuko said as she started to dial Mari on her mobile.

The Y2K Boys is a native Japanese pop band established in the year 2000 and hence the Y2K in their band's name. There are a total of five members on the band – Takumi, Mihato, Haru, Keita and Shinichirou. Among them, Takumi is the eldest at age 30 while Mihato and Shinichirou being the youngest at 28. Mari is a devoted fan of the Y2K Boys since their début in the year 2000, while Mari wasn't much of a fan-girl it certainly did not stop her from buying every albums that has been release by the group since their début.

Granted, at the members' age now – the Y2K Boys aren't just boys anymore. They had grown to become men instead, but still their band name remains as Y2K Boys. Yuuri supposed in a way he is consider lucky, since not everyone would get a chance to see these people up close and at a personal distance. Yuuri, however, had such opportunities made easily available to him and all because of his school.

UNIKII is set up in the year 1998 by the Takamiya Group to promote and train up talents for the Japanese Show Business industry. It initially begun as a short term college for young aspiring teens who looks forward to the prospect of starting a career in the media and show business industry. The Y2K Boys were among the first batch of students that successfully graduated from the college and gained extreme popularity since their début era.

In the year after the Y2K Boys début successfully in Japan, the Takamiya Group expanded their business into the International market. In 2001, UNIKII set up the Kyoto International Institute of Tertiary Education organization and start their first satellite campus in the United States of America – Detroit. Now, in 2015 – the KIITE organization had grown to own a total of 10 satellite campus on a worldwide scale not including their two main campus building in Kyoto, Japan.

Aside from the UNIKII or KIITE organization, Takamiya Group also owns the KIAMG and KEG which stands for Kyoto International Artists Management Group and the Kyoto Entertainment Group. Both the KIAMG and KEG were sets up to manage artists group train and graduated from UNIKII, students upon graduation were offered a starting two years contract with either the KIAMG or the KEG. Upon successful début into the show business market, with time the artists under the group management may seek progression or development with another company if they wishes to do so.

Aside from the artists management companies, Takamiya Group also own co-shares in Queen Records – a music recording studio and full ownership of the film production company – TG Films. Takamiya Osamu, now holds the president role in the KIITE group but he does not oversee the running of the schools personally. Instead, each campus functions individually with a head person being appointed to take charge of the school operation. Every year, there will be several meetings held between all the campuses involved with Takamiya Osamu overseeing it. This is when common rules and regulations applying to the student body is discuss and decided upon.

Either way, due to UNIKII ties with the pop band – Y2K Boys… they had a tendency to assign students' pursuing a dance discipline course to take on a part of the Y2K Boys background dancers role when necessary. In fact, most of the classes that teaches modern pop dance uses videos of Y2K Boys performance from what Yuuri had known. He, personally, had several chances of doing background dancing assignment for the said band when they were touring the US.

Mari met up with Yuuri and Yuuko for dinner at a nearby sushi restaurant 'Kappa Sushi' – a six-minute walk away from the Nippon Gaishi Arena. This is Yuuri's suggestion as he do not wish to travel far when there is restaurants in the nearby vicinity area.

"Yuuri! So good to see you, sorry for not coming by to watch you skate in person." Mari had greeted Yuuri when she entered the restaurant with a bag full of goods that were selling at the concert venue of Y2K Boys.

"…Do I even want to know how much you'd spend on those items?" Yuuri arched an eyebrow up in question as he eyed the bag of Y2K Boys endorsement products.

"Never you mind about that, besides it's my money. I can spend it whichever way that I want." Mari responded as she grabbed a menu for her own use from the counter of the sushi bar.

"That's true I supposed. So, did you managed to get Mihato to sign on the CD for you?" Yuuri asks, knowing that Mari likes the blond best out of the rest of the members.

"No… unfortunately, his queue is too long. I end up getting Takumi to sign on my CD instead." Mari responded somewhat dejectedly.

"Well… Takumi's not that bad either. I actually do likes being around him." Yuuri commented causing Mari to roll her eyes in response.

"You're just saying that because you had him instructing you in your dance lesson for a term!" Mari muttered under her breath, she could still recall the one time Yuuri actually contact her and then proceeds to send her a selfie picture involving Takumi causing her to scream like a banshee waking her parents' up in the middle of the night.

Yuuri smirked but said nothing else for a second as he inhaled the refreshing aroma from his cup of steaming hot green tea.

"…Can we change the subject? I had endured enough conversations around the Y2K Boys if I were to say in absolute honesty." Yuuko then interjected in a forceful way, she is sharing a room with Mari for the trip and seriously, all that incessant fan-girl talk about Y2K Boys is kind of getting on her nerves.

"Fine, I will stop speaking of Mihato of Y2K Boys if the two of you could stop discussing the one and only Viktor Nikiforov." Mari agreed almost readily to Yuuko's suggestion of changing the topic.

"Deal! We won't talk about Viktor, we shall concentrate on discussing Yuuri's plan upon returning to Hasetsu instead." Yuuko agreed immediately, as she zoom in her attention upon Yuuri who simply stared back at her dumbly.

"Erm…yeah?" Yuuri started, feeling a little stupid when he didn't know what to say with Yuuko staring straight at him.

"Out with it, why the sudden wish to return to Hasetsu? I mean, there are other times whereby you're back in the country for a competition but never once did it occurs to you to come back home for a visit. Why make this an exception this time around?"

"Yeah, I am rather curious of it as well." Mari agreed with Yuuko assessment as she too, turn her attention upon Yuuri.

"… I don't know, maybe I'm still pre-occupied by that nightmare of losing Vic-chan? I somehow just felt the need to go check in on Vic-chan at least once before I move on to the next competition. That, and I think I have a couple of Katsudon that I need to cash in… I did won a medal in Skate America quite recently from what I've recall." Yuuri told Mari trying to play it off casually.

"Vic-chan? What's up with Vic-chan?" Yuuko blinked, obviously out of the loop on this Vic-chan situation.

With that, Mari proceeds to tell Yuuko of that earlier call she had received from Yuuri a month ago during Yuuri's Skate America trip most likely. How Yuuri had insists upon them to take Vic-chan to a vet for a medical check, and then make them stop feeding the poodle left over Katsudon from the customers' because the poodle has been diagnose with obesity in dogs.

"Oh…so in short, Yuuri's coming back to Hasetsu for Vic-chan's sake?" Yuuko commented, her expression a little complicated to gauge.

"Essentially yes…" Yuuri sweat-dropped because his one regret from his previous-lifetime was the inability to stay with Vic-chan when the poodle passes on. So, now that he had a second chance at life – he wants to go back to see Vic-chan with his own eyes and spend some time with his beloved poodle IF Vic-chan did not make it through Sochi again.

He was hoping that would not be the case though, but one could never be so certain about things like this and hence he decided to go back and see Vic-chan. If only, to set his own mind at ease…

Yuuri walked both Yuuko and his elder sister, Mari to the train station where they proceeds on to return to the hotel they are staying for the period in Nagoya. After sending them off, he turns back around and headed back to the Nagoya Kasadera Washington Hotel which he was staying and make sure he's back in his room before checking his phone to see what exactly was causing all that incessant buzzing.

His jaw nearly slacked in shock when he noticed how his official twitter page was flood with comments from Viktor, Phichit and a couple of his fans. They were going on about how calm he had appeared this time before his turn on the ice as compared to his past few competitions. Some of them were even speculating on how much potential he had at winning gold at the NHK Trophy this time around, Viktor and Phichit among them.

Not wanting to start another round of twitter notification SPAM on his phone, Yuuri silently read through the tweets but refrain from responding to any. Pulling out his Whatsapp, he dropped a message off to Phichit to remind the Thai not to SPAM his twitter page and that he would talk to Phichit when he arrives back at Hasetsu after his exam week.

To Yuuri: Got it, and good luck for your exams!

To Phichit: Thank you, and good luck to you too. You had exams in the same week as well, put aside your phone and start hitting the books! *serious emoji*

To Yuuri: *Cries* You're so bad, how could I survive the week without my social media…

To Phichit: Haha, very funny. Enough fooling around, don't think you can slack off in your exam preparation just because I'm not there. Don't make me stick Haruka-san on you.

To Yuuri: *Gasp* No! I thought I'm your best friend, how could you do this to me?

To Phichit: Remember the terms and conditions stipulated in the participating of the musical? You need to clear all the papers in order to stay on the casts, so really – stop playing around with your phone and start studying. If I happen to spot you posting anything on social media over the next two days, I'm sicking Haruka-san on you and I meant it.

Ending his chat with Phichit, he switch over to contact Viktor instead. He contemplates on what he was about to convey in the message for a minute, before starting to type away on the touch-screen keyboard of his phone.

To Viktor: Looks like I managed to secure a new personal best for the SP after all, I assume you're quite proud of it? Anyway, I noticed your post on instagram about your Cable TV services being disrupted due to an oversight of payment. Really, how could you forget to pay for the Internet connection and Cable TV subscription fee and yet remember to pay for your Mega-Fon mobile subscription?

To Yuuri: I don't usually forget about paying the subscription fee especially when it has to do with the Cable TV and home Internet connection service. The invoices must have been lost amidst the chaos when my flat apartment resembles a dump, the housekeeper whom came by later must have accidentally threw it out when cleaning up my apartment unit.

To Viktor: *sigh* Have you made arrangement to pay your overdue fees and have the services restored at least?

To Yuuri: I would have if I remembered the account number… *puppy eyes* some help over here please?

To Viktor: Seriously, how did you function so well before I came into your life anyway? Account number for your Cable TV subscription: B-222428L and it's link to your home broadband internet bill as well. I recall this from memory, but you may want to double-check by calling up the Beeline consumer hotline first since I'm not sure if they had linked the two together into one lump bill settlement yet.

To Yuuri: Thank you! 3 3 3 Love you always, my dear! Good luck for the FS tomorrow *smiley & Kisses*

To Viktor: You're welcome. *smile* Now, I'm going for a shower and then I'm hitting the books for revision.

To Yuuri: Oh, okay… I will behave and no more distracting you. I swear!

To Viktor: We shall see.

With that Yuuri turns off his phone completely and decided to set the alarm on the hotel room's digital clock for tomorrow instead. After turning off his phone, he set it to charge on his charger and proceeds on to retrieve clothes for his shower. He already had his textbook ready by the side of his hotel room's bed within his reach, Yuuri was readying himself for a night of undisturbed study.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 29/3/17.


	33. Chapter 33

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 33

On 28th November 2015, the second day of the NHK Trophy Tournament – Yuuri woke up before the alarm started ringing due to the immediate need to pee. After a quick glance at the digital clock in his hotel room, he decided to wake and start the day early instead of going back to bed and waking in another 30 minutes time. Turning on his mobile phone, he waited a minute for his phone to load up and was promptly greeted by three notification of new chat messages received on Whatsapp.

Opening up the application, he found one from Viktor greeting him a good morning and a thank you. Most likely, his memory of Viktor's subscription account detail was right and that the Russian was successful in getting his disrupted service back on.

To Viktor: Good to know my memory of such trivial things is of good use to you. Speaking of, do check your fridge and throws out any food or drinks that is already past its' expiry date. Remember to check Makkachin's food inventory level as well, replenish them if they are running low. I know your housekeeper checks them on regular basis, but she's only coming in once a week so it is possible for things to go past the expiry date in your fridge before her scheduled arrival for the week. By the way, am busy for most of today so highly possible that I will not respond to your message until later in the night.

The other two messages received, one was from Serizawa Chieko confirming his attendance for the concert on 1st December 2015 at Kyoto Murata Hall. The other was Miyabi seeking his help in buying toothpaste for her from Japan and that she will transfer him the amount of money spend later.

To Miyabi: I know you want products from Lion Corporation, but there is a few selections available. Can you be a bit more clear in your requests, are you looking at Systema series or the Clinica series?

To Yuuri: I want Clinica Series! That one cannot be found anywhere else, it's only available in Japan. Systema products are possible to buy on-line since most Asia countries carries them and some might be open to the idea of doing international shipping of their products.

To Miyabi: Noted, will bring you 6 tubes when I'm going back. Let you know the arrangement later… I can't confirm schedule at this point.

After replying to the text messages, Yuuri headed down to the hotel buffet restaurant and meet Celestino for their breakfast. Since Yuuri woke early for the day, they had some time to spare before they need to make it over to the rink and get started on their morning rink practice. There wasn't many places of interests near the hotel they were staying, the only place that is within walking distance is the sports plaza where the Nippon Gaishi Hall and Arena stood.

So, the duo ended up in the rink before the place finished setting up for the second day event of the NHK Trophy.

"…I think it might be better for us to come back in another hour or so, we are obviously obstructing their work." Yuuri told Celestino as he glances around the arena that was full of JSF related staff bustling about.

"Right, any suggestion to where we could go?" Celestino turns towards Yuuri and asks.

"…" Yuuri stood silent as he contemplates on the possible things to do in the area, and eventually he thought of something but wasn't sure if Celestino is open to the idea. "Well, we have a few things to do. One, we could go around exploring the nearby parks but really… there's nothing much to see – it's just somewhere for old folks to spend their time idly by watching people or chatting with neighbors. Two, there is a tea-house nearby that we can go… but I think they only serve traditional Japanese tea … Third, we can go visit the Yu-topia public bath house near the hotel."

"Yu-topia?" Celestino raised an eyebrow up in question as he stared at Yuuri, and it took a minute for Yuuri to realize that Celestino had mistaken this Yu-topia bath house as one that has some relations to his parents' business.

"No… no, this Yu-topia is just a bath house. The one my family runs in Hasetsu is Yu-topia Hot-Spring Inn. There's a difference in the registered name – this doesn't comes with Ryokan, but my family operated Yu-topia comes with Ryokan attached." Yuuri hurried to explain.

"I see…" Celestino murmured in response but he doesn't seem too keen on either options available.

In the end, they headed back to the hotel and hang out at the common areas instead. Celestino choose to occupy his time by borrowing one of the computer station while Yuuri grab a manga off one of the shelves to occupy himself.

When the duo next entered the arena, it was finally clear for them to start their practicing session. Before Yuuri took to the ice for his warm-up, Celestino told him not to do any Quad Salchow.

"Oh… okay." Yuuri blinked and digested the instruction for a second before nodding to Celestino's words.

"So readily? I would have thought you would argue with me on that." Celestino blinked back at Yuuri's response in surprise.

"…Well, best to keep the Quad Salchow under wrap for now. Besides, you are probably also thinking that I might flub the jump during warm-up causing a possible chance of my anxiety to rise its ugly head." Yuuri responded easily enough, he had been through enough competitions with Celestino to know what exactly goes on in the Italian's mind by now.

The Pairs' Skate Free program kicks off promptly at 1.30 p.m., and aside from a couple having to withdraw due to a sudden illness there were no other hiccups. Apparently, the pair of skaters from america had been a little too adventurous and eaten too many raw sashimi the night before and thus ended up with a case of a diarrhea that has yet to recover despite having seen a doctor early this morning.

"Yuuri, how are you feeling today? Congratulate on your new personal best record by the way." A sudden voice called out to Yuuri just as the Men's Free Skate schedule kicks off with the first participant taking to the ice.

"Asami-san! How… I mean, why are you here?" Yuuri was completely caught off-guard by the appearance of Tsukishiro Asami. While he had contacted the female coach a day before, he wasn't really expecting to see the former so soon.

"Well, I'm in the area so I figure I'll drop by to watch you skate in person to get a gauge of your current level." Tsukishiro Asami responded matter-of-factly as she turn towards Celestino with a nod of acknowledgement.

Yuuri gaped, before he turn his attention elsewhere deciding not to dwell too much on the issue. Whether Tsukishiro Asami had specially fly over to Nagoya to watch him skate or not does not matters at this point of time, what matters most is for him to focus on his own upcoming FS routine.

7507 kilometers away in Saint Petersburg, Russia – Viktor Nikiforov was anxiously sitting in front of his home TV watching the live broadcast of NHK Trophy. He had successfully recovered his disrupted Cable TV services with Yuuri's help. He had then called up the Beeline customer help-line to check on the amount that is over-due using his account number as reference and then proceeds on to make an internet banking payment using his phone that is running on mobile-data package plan from MegaFon.

"I still don't get why you can remember to pay your mobile subscription plan fee but forgot about your home broadband Internet and Cable TV subscription." Yuri Plisetsky commented as he leap over the giant poodle laying in his path and headed towards the sofa couch with a bag of chips in his hands ready to munch on.

"Because I had a reminder alarm set to remind me when the payment's due?" Viktor answered in a questioning tone that causes Yuri Plisetsky to roll his eyes again.

"Pray tell why do you not do the same with your Cable TV and Home Broadband Internet connection? While on the issue of service providers, why used Beeline for Cable TV and Home Broadband while use mobile service and data package from MegaFon?" Yuri Plisetsky asks, distracting Viktor from the task of staring at the TV screen yet again.

"Ah… this is easy because MegaFon has the largest covering areas in Russia, I'm not certain if Beeline services can reach Sochi… but MegaFon service definitely covers Sochi area." Viktor replied with conviction.

"And you would know because?" Yuri Plisetsky raised an eyebrow up in a questioning way as he voiced his doubt across to the twenty-seven year old silver-haired man.

"Because of the 2011-2012 Grand Prix Series of course, as a pre-run to stimulate Winter Olympics 2014 that will be taking place in Sochi. The ISU held that year's GPF in Sochi, my phone's reception that few days was pathetic. After that, I promptly switch over to MegaFon when I heard Chris mentioning that his pre-paid MegaFon sim-card purchased at the Sochi Airport works completely fine in the area." Viktor answered with just the slightest bit of delay, the memory came to him fast enough to avoid any awkwardness.

"…" Yuri Plisetsky wisely remain silent, he wasn't a mobile user at that point of time so he can't really comment on it. With a shake of his head, Yuri Plisetsky turns his attention back to the NHK Trophy Cup showing on TV.

"You don't have to glare at my TV with so much venom you know? For your information, Yuuri didn't exactly share the same name as you. His name is pronounce with a double 'u' and when written out in Japanese Kanji form, it completely differs from yours. The person who did the subtitle wasn't aware of it, so when they did the spelling they accidentally spelt it the same way they would spelt yours." Viktor commented as he kept his eyes on the way Yuuri does his warm-up on the ice, half-way across the world.

"Oh…" The recently turned fifteen-year old blond drop his glare then, with the annoyance over the issue of the shared name with the Japanese Skater explained and clarified – Yuri Plisetsky finally had it in him to drop the pointless grudge and start observing the Japanese Yuuri Katsuki objectively.

"So what do you think of his footwork?" Viktor turn towards the blond as he asks for the teen's opinion, despite his obvious wish to leap for the phone and start SPAMMING his beloved Yuuri with words of congratulations at making the podium with a Gold Medal.

"Fine, I'll admit that you weren't exaggerating when you says he's good at steps and spins sequences. His jumps though still need some polishing, that salchow of his was supposedly a Quad – isn't it? Somehow he ended up making an under rotation and downgraded it into a triple instead. That has to cost him some points from the TES side, but he's lucky his SP score is high enough to secure him a gold medal. He really ought to thank his lucky stars that there's a lack of solid competitors in the NHK this year."

"Well… I think he did well enough, considering that he had stayed up the night before to study and revise for his exams that's happening in two days time. Besides, the Quad Salchow was newly added into his program routine – it wasn't a part of his FS in Skate America. Moreover, aside from his under-rotation of the Salchow jump there really wasn't many mistakes make this time around."

"…" Yuri Plisetsky bite his lips to prevent himself for saying anything rude to Viktor's face, he had heard from both Georgi and Mila about how smitten Viktor is with that Japanese skater whom shared the same name as his. Okay, maybe it wasn't exactly the same name but more of the same pronunciation instead. Still, he hadn't quite believed them until now… the Viktor now in front of him was behaving so obvious that he would be an idiot if he can't see the fact that Viktor is completely besotted with the Japanese Yuuri.

"Stupid Old Man!" Yuri Plisetsky eventually muttered aloud and throw the smart phone gadget that belongs to the older man in annoyance. "There, go ahead and call that pig of a skater up! Just stop oozing happiness like an idiot around here, I can't take it anymore… I'm going back to Yakov and you better show your face at the rink as soon as possible! I won't hold Yakov back anymore than necessary, and the stupid excuse of you having a chat with my home room teacher could only delay Yakov for ten minutes at the most."

"Yurio! Don't call him a pig! That's rude!" Viktor complained, as he caught the phone in mid-air before it could fall on to the ground.

"Stop calling me that! Where on earth did you come up with that bloody nickname anyway?" Yuri Plisetsky frowned as he threw back a sharp retort towards Viktor's direction. As for the man's warning to him about not to call the Japanese Skater a pig, well… that's his decision ultimately – isn't it? Besides, that Japanese Yuuri isn't even around now – what's wrong with him calling the Japanese Yuuri pig for now anyway?

"Erm… I just thought of it, isn't it cute?" Viktor cursed inwardly when the nickname 'Yurio' slipped from his lips without thought, but oh well – at least he have the excuse of wanting to differentiate between the two Yuri now. Looks like he couldn't leave the honors of naming Yuri Plisetsky 'Yurio' to Mari now.

"…Whatever! You better be quick about that call of yours!" With that Yuri Plisetsky proceeds to storm out of Viktor's apartment unit and headed for their home rink while cursing Viktor and his stupid naming sense under his breath.

Viktor glances back down at his phone screen, and hesitates between the choice of calling or messaging. In the end, he chose messaging instead of calling since he wasn't sure if Yuuri had the phone on him or not. Besides, he didn't want to risk having someone else answering the phone on Yuuri's behalf to find him gushing how awesome Yuuri was into another person's ear… that would be awkward later.

To Yuuri: You're so great! Even Yurio admitted your steps and spins sequence were good! Although, he was able to gauge and tell that you under-rotated the Quad Salchow though… pity, your starting was good. Anyway, on the overall I think you did well – seeing as that's Celestino's choreography you are doing so… *thumbs up* Congrats on making the podium and winning your first Gold(?) – I hope this won't be the last gold medal you managed to clinch though. You know what this means? It means we get to meet in Sochi! A total of 4 days in Sochi, speaking of – do you need me to pick you up at the airport when you arrive in Sochi?!

Yuuri Katsuki stared at his latest received message from Viktor in shock, it took him a few minutes to regain his mobility as he hurriedly type out a response to Viktor dissuading the man from picking him up at Sochi when the time comes.

To Viktor: First of all, thank you. Secondly, please tell me you didn't force Yurio to sit down and watch my FS program with you. Thirdly, I'm not surprised that Yurio could tell that I under-rotated my Salchow… since Salchow is definitely one of his best jumps so he probably could spot an error from distance away even if he's banned from doing Quads for his Junior competitions. Fourth, I'm glad that we get to meet at Sochi as well but please DO NOT think about coming over to pick me up from the Sochi Airport.

I highly doubt you would be able to reach Sochi before I do – I'm heading over from Japan, which means a long flight that requires transits and most likely a 2 stop-over transits. So it is highly possible for me to set off for Sochi 1-2 days earlier, since I do need time to get over that jet-lag after long flights. You, however, is coming over straight from Saint Petersburg which the flight lasts at most three hours? I seriously do not think Yakov would allow you to fly to Sochi a day in advance, we will just meet up when you reach Sochi.

To Yuuri: *Sad Icon* Are you sure? Getting around Russia is kind of inconvenient for foreigners to navigate around, since it's hard to find someone whom can speak english. Even cabs are hard to get around here, and drivers don't usually speak English as well. Do you at least need me to arrange a cab for you on your day of arrival to bring you from the airport to the hotel?

To Viktor: Maybe, I don't know… I'll talk with Celestino and get back to you on it. There's no rush anyway, there's still a few weeks in between. Speaking of… I kept noticing someone representing Russia from the Ice-dance group observing me when I'm not looking, do you have something to do with that? *suspicious look*

To Yuuri: Eh… erm… Yakov's calling, I need to go … talk to you later.

With that, Viktor completely stop text-ing Yuuri. At least, he is not going to text Yuuri anymore until after the exhibition gala tomorrow. Yuuri, however, is now pretty certain that the strange behavior from the Team Russia Ice Dancers probably had something to do with Viktor… what could it be though?

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 29/3/17.


	34. Chapter 34

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 34

"Katsuki? This is for you." On the 29th of November, right after Yuuri finishes his exhibition skate program, he was call upon by the female Ice-dancer from Team Russia before he could leave the area.

Yuuri blinked uncomprehendingly at the gift-wrapped package that was practically pressed into the front of his chest with an unreadable expression on his face. Standing beside him, Celestino let out a shrill whistle and commented something about his sudden gain charisma while Tsukishiro Asami who joins the gala as part of the sponsoring personnel eye Yuuri with interests sparkling in the depths of her eyes.

"…" A part of Yuuri wants to argue that he had no idea who that female ice-dancer was, but judging from the way Celestino is behaving he highly doubts the man would believe him. So, with a roll of his eyes he decided to discard the idea of explaining himself to his coach.

Meanwhile, Elena Anishina who had basically adopted the act of calling out to the Japanese skater dropped the present on behalf of Viktor off without a word of explanation and then proceeds on to turn and flee the area was now facing an interrogation from her brother – Boris Anishin.

"Elena, what on earth was that about?!" Boris had demanded as soon as Elena returns to his side.

"That was apparently me playing courier for a certain famous skater by the name of Nikiforov." Elena Anishina responded easily enough with a shrug.

"Hah? When did Nikiforov approach you with that requests anyway?" Boris Anishin started, looking absolutely puzzled by his sister's words.

"25th November 2015, just after our return from a late lunch. He grabbed me by my elbow just before I left the lockers' room and told me to pass a package from him to the Japanese skater Yuuri Katsuki for him. He claims that he had forgotten to send the gift out and he wants the man to receive it in time for his birthday which is today." Elena responded as she recounted the happening in a factual way.

"You just agreed? Without any further arguments?" Boris raised an eyebrow up in a questioning way, it wasn't in Elena's nature to do something out of goodwill.

"Of course not, I had him promised to buy me three bottles of limited edition perfumes from Dior and Chanel when he came back from the World Championship in Boston next year as payment for playing courier service for him." Elena responded as she flicked a stray strand of her fringe away from the front of her eyes.

"…" Boris wisely held his tongue when he heard his sister's response, suddenly he don't know if he should hate Viktor for approaching his sister without his knowing or should he pity Viktor for the man's deflating wallet during World Championship next year.

Over at the other side of the hall, Yuuri was still trying to recall the female ice dancer's name but found himself drawing a blank. He didn't know much skaters in Russia, those that he knows of are usually students under Yakov Feltsman whom hangs around him all the time after he joins Viktor to train in Saint Petersburg after the end of his silver medal achieved at the GPF 2016-2017 seasons.

"Well, are you going to open it or are you going to keep staring at it?" Celestino prompted Yuuri while still holding a glass of champagne in hand that is obviously meant for Yuuri's consumption.

Yuuri eyed the champagne somewhat apprehensively, after his drunken GPF experience in his last Sochi experience… he had stayed away from champagne at most if not all the time. It was then his logic spoke up and reminded him that Sochi GPF has yet to take place, this time around. So, it would really be unnatural of him to avoid drinking champagne out of the blue.

"Sorry, just hold on to that flute of champagne for another minute for me. I'm going to open this thing now." Yuuri told Celestino once he jolted back to reality as he started to pry open the gift wrapper with ease.

"Hah? A recipe book of common and popular Russian cuisine? Who on earth would gift you something like this?" Celestino sound baffled as he voiced his question loud enough for Yuuri to hear.

"…" Yuuri flipped open the recipe book and scanned through the list of contents, raising an eyebrow up in surprise when he realized the recipe book is one that were written and publish in English. This was unusual alright, since you can hardly find anything that was not written out with Russian in the country of Russia… so most likely, Viktor had found this on-line and had it internationally ship to his door-step.

Yuuri noted the recipe for Pirozhki had been highlight for his attention and had to refrain from smiling at Viktor's thoughtful gesture. He had mentioned somewhat offhandedly about wanting to try his hands at making Pirozhki for Yurio once or twice before their unexpected time-traveling experience but was at a loss due to the lack of recipe of that favorite dish of Yurio. Apparently, Viktor had remembered his off-handed remarks from before and hence the man had went ahead to get him this recipe book for his birthday. Well, at least the man had the sense of not getting the recipe book written in Cyrillic for him because that would cause him problems in explaining how he got to know the language of Russian having no chance to study them before.

"I think it's from Viktor, I mentioned to him once about having an interest in finding out just what kind of food is common in Russia… and I might have commented about not wanting to seem completely clueless when someone around me mentioning some Russian dishes in passing." Yuuri explains allowing a blush to highlight his cheeks, hoping that it will deters Celestino from prying too deeply into it.

"Yuuri, good job on winning gold. Though, I have to ask what happens that causes you to under-rotate that Quad Salchow?" Tsukishiro Asami spoke up then, causing Yuuri to flush crimson yet again.

"Yes, well… that's because something came to mind and it sort of distracted me for a bit." Yuuri flush as he explain his fail attempt at landing that Quad Salchow in his FS program.

Not that Yuuri did not beat himself over it later on after finishing his FS but what's done is done, there is no way for him to un-do or re-do it. He would just have to live with the consequences of his mistakes made during his performance, thankfully his flawless SP offset the points deducted from his TES in the FS program over his fail Quad Salchow jump. So, what is it that distracted him during his FS performance then?

To put it simply, he suddenly remembered about his lack of a present for Viktor's impending birthday in December. Sure, due to the overlap in their National Championship schedule – there would not be any chance of them spending Viktor's birthday together. Not that they managed to spend his birthday together either during their active days in competitive figure skating anyway. Right, despite Viktor mentioning on repeated occasions that he doesn't do birthday celebration – it remains among Yuuri's list to do to at least get the man a present for the birthday and since Viktor's birthday falls on the 25th of December which makes it Christmas as well, Yuuri was all the more determined to get Viktor a gift every year.

This time around due to their time-traveling ordeal, it had completely slips Yuuri's mind until that very second on the ice that he somehow remembered the dates. That causes a falter in his focus and ultimately resulted in his under-rotating his Salchow. Now as Yuuri glances down at the recipe book which Viktor had gifted him on his birthday, it makes him all the more determined to find a present for Viktor in return.

'Just what do I get him though? He seems to have everything already…' Yuuri mused inwardly to himself, as he took a sip from the champagne flute that was hand over to him by Celestino minutes ago.

Later that night, Yuuri spend some time going through his past chat history with the Russian on his Whatsapp and a certain fact keeps standing out to him. The Russian man seems quite interested in locating his past performance videos on YouTube, and Yuuri knew most could be found on-line but there should have some that was never released on-line and is only made available to the access of selected group of people.

Typing in the website address to Queen Records, Yuuri found the discography records of Y2K Boys, Angela Mok and Jason Lee. He is checking on the list of the official concerts DVDs recordings that is release to the public via official sales channel. He managed to confirm a few of the concerts he had taken part of as background dancers on the official released DVDs and note down the details before pulling up another tab on his web browser and conducted a search on a list of CDs stores nearby.

Seeing as the timing is too late for him to go browsing in these Nagoya CDs stores, he choose to look at the music stores in Kyoto areas instead. As there exists a couple of the DVDs among the lists that he thinks is a little too old for him to find in music stores carrying latest releases, he took down a few address of stores that deals with second-hand transactions as well. With luck, he could probably lay his hands on the older released concert DVDs which features him as a background dancer of either artists that he had worked with in the earlier days of his study with UNIKII.

With at least a rough idea in mind on what he could be getting for Viktor's birthday/Christmas, Yuuri finally had it in him to rest for the night. His scheduled exam the next day is at 2 p.m. in the afternoon over at Kyoto, so he probably needs to check out by 7.30 a.m. tomorrow morning if he wants to fit in his shopping plans upon his arrival in Kyoto.

On 30th November morning, Yuuri met Celestino at the hotel buffet restaurant for the last round of breakfast service before they headed separate ways. Celestino making his way from the hotel directly to the Airport to fly back to Detroit, while Yuuri would be setting off for Kyoto making use of the Japan Railways Network. He did not have a JR pass available for his use as he wasn't considered a foreigner by the authority, so he had to keep a constant eye on his SUGOCA stored value and to charge it up once it starts running low.

He booked his Shinkansen Trip ticket to Kyoto from Nagoya Station the night before using the Internet, and all he had to do now was to queue at the collection booth for his pre-booked ticket. He checked out from the Nagoya Kasadera Washington Hotel at 7.30 a.m. and immediately tug his luggage behind him as he headed for the Kasadera Train station nearby. Next, he boarded the JR Tokaido Line from Kasadera Station to the Nagoya Train Station which takes him 20 minutes of travel. He arrived at Nagoya Train Station at 7.55 a.m. and promptly went in search for the elevator that would takes him down to where the Shinkansen Ticket Counter is at – he needs to collect his pre-booked ticket from the counter before he could board the Shinkansen Train bound for Kyoto.

His Shinkansen train bound to leave for Kyoto was at 8.15 a.m. which gives him ample time to make his way from the Shinkansen Ticket Counter to the platform. His ticket is for the Nozomi Train Services that is the fastest route since it does not stops at stations along the way but only stopping at the main stations such as Kyoto, Shin-Osaka and Tokyo etc. The Nozomi service will take him 36 minutes to arrive at Kyoto, which he observed arrives precisely on the dot – he reached Kyoto platform at 8.51 a.m.

After exiting the Shinkansen area, Yuuri tugged his luggage towards the corner where tourists would keep their luggage while they head off for some last-minute shopping at the Railway Stations Mall. He dug around in his pockets for some coins and proceeds to keep his luggage and laptop case in the locker compartment. He then pocketed the key from the coin locker and start browsing around with just his backpack on his back. The reason why he choose to spend his time upon arrival in Kyoto at the Railway Mall and not headed straight for the hotel is because he had time to spare for one, and secondly the hotel only starts handling Check-in from 3 p.m. onwards.

Remembering his promise to help Miyabi bring toothpaste back to US, Yuuri headed for the nearest pharmacy branch within Kyoto Train Station Mall. There are a total of 2 malls in Kyoto Station – The Porta Shopping Mall and The Cube Shopping Mall. Aside from these two malls, Kyoto Station also features a Kyoto Theater, a Hotel (Hotel Granvia Kyoto), two Museums (Art Museum Eki and a Stone Museum), a Ramen Koji which basically consist of an alley full of stores dealing with Ramen and a Isetan Departmental Store.

The Kokumin Drug store of The Cube Shopping Mall is on level B1, and Yuuri was merely trying his luck to see if he could find any Clinica Toothpaste in there. Seeing as he wasn't particularly familiar with the area of Kyoto, he supposed the worst he could do was to emerge out empty-handed and had to resort to buying those toothpaste for Miyabi when he arrives home in Hasetsu. At least, at Hasetsu he is quite certain of which store carries the range of Clinica Toothpaste products.

After his pharmacy trip, Yuuri visited a café whereby he sat down with his textbook open and proceeds to do some last-minute revision. He took his lunch at the same café and check his itinerary plan again before making a move to leave for the bus terminal. He decided to head off to the Campus directly from Kyoto Station, and took the City Bus Route No. 5 which will bring him directly from Kyoto Station to his school, although it did passes by the Eco and Tec Hotel which he will be staying as well. Still, Yuuri decides to check in later after his exams since it hasn't even reaches 3 p.m. yet and he wasn't sure if the hotel allows check-in before the stipulated check-in time stated on the website.

The exam starts at 2 p.m. and would ends at 5 p.m. but students are welcome to leave if they finished the paper early and had remained in the exam hall for at least 1.5 hour. Yuuri answered every question on his exam paper to the best of his ability, and did not make it a point to stay on in the exam hall after checking through his papers three times. He knows his problem with anxiety and the more time he spend in the exam hall checking over his answers, the more uncertain he would get with regards to his exam answers written. So, he did not give himself too much time to dwell upon it once the paper was flip through thrice and he made certain of that he did not miss out on any questions he raised his hand up in the air to have his paper collected by the examiner.

After retrieving his parked luggage from the school's administrative office where he had gotten a staff to help keep an eye upon his belongings, he thanked the staff and made a move to head fo the hotel he is staying. Upon Yuuri's arrival at the hotel, he was immensely thankful that there is a staff around to help customers after their check-in on the first day because really, he was so tired that he could sleep the rest of the evening away.

Too lazy to head out far, his dinner was settle with onigiris bought at a nearby convenience store and after the shabby dinner treat – Yuuri proceeds with his shower and promptly fell asleep the moment he is certain his hair was fully blown dry by the hair dryer provided by the hotel in the guest room for customer's use.

Yuuri knew he probably should have sent Viktor a thank you message for the gift, but he doesn't have the energy in him to do so. Apparently, traveling from Nagoya to Kyoto is also a tiring task. Granted, it won't sap on his energy as much as a long distance flight tends to affects him – it is still tiring after a long day. Eventually, he decided that he would contact Viktor the following day instead. That was the last thought on his mind before he completely blacked out from the drowsy blanket of sleepiness hanging over him.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 29/3/17.


	35. Chapter 35

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 35

Yuuri was exceptionally glad that he only have one subject that is pure theory for this term, so that means that the rest of the exams were all purely practical based. Yuuri, awoke the following morning feeling absolutely refresh and ready for the new day ahead. Granted, his schedule is quite pack for the day as well since he had a concert event to take part in later that evening. However, it seems like the undisturbed nine hours of rest is what he needed exactly because he realized that the feeling of lethargy that has bugged him since the day before was gone.

A quick check of his phone informs him that he had receive several messages from Viktor over the night but Yuuri was not in any rush to respond to them. Besides, his phone power status is running low so he decided to leave his phone lock in his room to do some charging while he headed downstairs to get his complimentary breakfast from the hotel staff.

Breakfast is being served in the hotel's community space, and the free drink (coffee, English tea, Japanese tea and mineral water) corner could be found by the side of the community space area. The breakfast isn't anything fanciful, just some bread and confectionary products which Yuuri supposed does make sense since this is a budget hotel after all. Still, the lack of choices aside – the light breakfast is still enough to fill his hungry stomach after that shabby convenience store-bought dinner from the night before. Back up in his room, Yuuri finally found the time to reply to Viktor's messages.

To Viktor: Sorry for the delay in the message response, I'm just too tired to work up the energy to respond to them last evening after my exam. By the way, received that gift surprise of yours… I guess a thank you is in order.

To Yuuri: No worries, my dear. 333 When I fail to receive any response from you, I sort of figure out you must either be too tired or too busy to reply to them. Glad you like the recipe book though, I would have send you my gold medal from Cup of China and get you to kiss it but I don't think that will go over well for the others'.

To Viktor: *sweat-drop* The recipe book is good enough, lucky you still had the sense not to send me your gold medal – that would freak people out. Granted, a recipe book on Russian cuisine attracts attention from others as well but that I at least could come up with a suitable excuse to explain it away. It's also good that you send me the english version of the recipe book, I would have question your intelligence if you choose the Cyrillic version to send me.

To Yuuri: *sweat-drop* I'm not that much of an idiot!

To Viktor: Really? I bet Yurio would beg to differ on this…

To Yuuri: *cries* you wound me, Yuuri~~~ How could you say this? *pout*

To Viktor: *laughing tears* Alright, stop your drama. Want to see how a budget hotel looks like?

To Yuuri: Huh? Budget hotel? You're staying at a budget hotel? Why?

To Viktor: Cheap for one thing, second thing it's near to the Campus where I'm taking the exams. So, you want to see how it looks like or not?

To Yuuri: Yes, please! I want to see! *_* I've never seen how a budget hotel looks like, I hope its' nothing like the motel in Russia though…

To Viktor: No worries, the room came with pin-lock and interior is nice and clean. No bugs to worry about, and the wall paint are definitely not chipping off in a corner. *smile*

Yuuri then proceeds on to snap a few pictures of his single room, and send them over to Viktor via Whatsapp. He would have uploaded them to Facebook but unfortunately, he is not too keen on the prospect of losing his privacy over it. He might upload these photos later after he departed from Kyoto though, he felt that such a nice and cozy budget hotel ought to receive more exposure to the public so he definitely would not mind promoting a little for them on his social media account.

To Yuuri: Wow~ it looks nice, although the room decor is simple but it's clean at the least and the bed looks comfy.

To Viktor: It is comfy, I slept well last night. The bathroom is tiny and cramp, but it works good enough and it's really clean and hygienic.

To Yuuri: Well, so long you're comfortable living there. Just don't try to get me to live there even if it's just for overnight stay if there's a chance to visit Kyoto, I don't think I can survive with such a cramp and tiny bathroom.

To Viktor: *roll eyes* I wouldn't dream of making you stay in a budget hotel, you just don't fit into the image of staying at a budget hotel.

To Yuuri: *laughing icon* x 3 So, what kind of image do you think I'm suited for?

To Viktor: The luxury and posh type… if the way you complaint about traveling on Economy Class seat is any indication…

To Yuuri: Yep, you know me too well :P I'm never comfortable with Economy Class seats, too bad the ISU budget is so stingy though… Yakov was saying we are traveling to Sochi on Economy, and that if I want a first class seat I'll have to pay out of my own pocket. *sad*

To Viktor: Well, that's up to you but I'm definitely going Economy. Unlike you, my bank account is not that affluent.

To Yuuri: Really? Even with all that cash prize from your piano competitions back in the past?

To Viktor: Crucial keyword being in the past, I'd already used them up to finance my figure skating training. I haven't been winning competitions in the recent years, my highest ranking in competitions these days hover around the 6th position and unless I made it into the top 3… I don't get cash prize rewards from it.

To Yuuri: Oh… *hugs* I…I'll go Economy for Sochi then.

To Viktor: *raised eyebrow* Serious?

To Yuuri: *nods* Serious!

To Viktor: Okay… if you say so.

Their constant messaging stop after Yuuri's latest message to Viktor, and a quick glance at the clock tells Yuuri that he has nothing to feel alarmed for. It is highly possible that Viktor had been caught by Yakov and ended up being dragged back to the rink for practice. Deciding to leave it be for the time-being, Yuuri took his backpack with him and proceeds to set off for the UNIKII Campus. Even if it is a little early for him to go over, seeing as the practical exam would not be starting until 1 p.m. and it is only 10.30 a.m. for now. Yuuri decided to head over to the campus earlier and see if he could find an empty practice room to do some practice on his flute.

All the way in Saint Petersburg, Russia – Viktor was not caught by Yakov about him slacking off practice but instead was approach by a hesitant Yurio whom had later all but chucked a piece of paper at his head snapping at him to read it. Bewildered, Viktor had complied to Yurio's demand and read the piece of paper. Turns out that was a note from Yurio's homeroom teacher inviting a parent/guardian to attend a parents' and teachers' meeting to discuss the future of the graduating student.

"Okay, so an official notification of a parents' teachers meeting – shouldn't this goes to Yakov? Why are you giving it to me?" Viktor was quite puzzled as he questions.

"Yakov says he's not free to go, and since you are so enthusiastic about playing guardian to me that you could go in his stead." Yuri Plisetsky responded in a grumpy way as he kept his hands hidden in the pockets of his jacket, not looking at Viktor while he answered.

"Oh…" Viktor took another good look at the mentioned date and time before nodding and told Yurio. "Okay, I'll go. Let me just put the dates into my calendar, just in-case it slips my mind later."

Viktor was not surprised that Yakov had declined going at all, the date mentioned on Yurio's school notification slip is the same date whereby Yakov is meeting up with his wife Lilia for some discussion. The couple was having troubles with their marriage for some time now, and apparently Lilia had brought up the topic of a divorce for discussion with Yakov. So, there is no way Yakov would be attending the parents' teachers' meeting at Yurio's school that day – Lilia would go ahead and sign the divorce papers right away if Yakov blew her off for not turning up at the discussion.

Once Yurio took the signed copy of acknowledgement from Viktor, he turned to leave the corner where Viktor was lazing about and headed back to restart his own training. Viktor, however, hurriedly send a message to Yuuri informing about his going to stand in for Yakov as Yurio's temporary guardian figure at Yurio's school parents' teachers' meeting and asks Yuuri what he should do to prepare for it.

To Yuuri: Help~~~~ Parents' teachers' meeting in three days time! What should I do in preparation for it?

Due to the lack of an immediate response, Viktor assumed that Yuuri is off busying with something else again. However, he was eager for response so he ended up very distracted during his own training and endured several rounds of yelling from Yakov before the man finally gave up on him altogether.

When Yuuri took a break from his flute practice in preparation for the concert at the small Murata Hall at Kyoto Concert Hall, he found his eyes twitching at the sight of the mass number of messages from a certain Russian by the name of Viktor Nikiforov.

Taking a good long swig from his bottle of water, Yuuri scanned through the mass number of messages from Viktor before readying a response for the drama king half-way across the globe.

To Viktor: I'm back, no need to SPAM me anymore. Seriously, there is nothing for you to prepare for the meeting with Yurio's homeroom teacher. It's just a career guidance talk, if it helps I could send you a link to an on-line resource that goes through what would be covered in a typical career guidance talk between a teacher and a parent/guardian just so you could get a rough idea on what that whole thing is like.

To Yuuri: *Puppy Eyes* That would be great! Finally, Yuuri~~~ You responded! I keep on wondering if you'd responded to my message that it irked Yakov so much that he nearly scream my ears off…*sheepish grin*

To Viktor: Why am I not surprised by Yakov screaming at you? By the way, one word of advice when you're meeting Yurio's homeroom teacher. Do remember that you are just standing in for Yakov, and please do remember that Yurio is fifteen not five. Do not treat him as an invisible being and go overboard with your conversation with his home-room teacher. If the topic of Yurio's future education comes up in the discussion, you can offer advice or suggestions but make sure to check with Yurio if he is okay with your suggestions or you can just thank the teacher for the advice and speak to Yurio later about it. Never ever try to make his decision for him because it is his right to decide his future for himself.

To Yuuri: *Nods* I got it! I really do! Now, that link you were saying?

To Viktor: 5 mins, I'll go in search for it.

With that, Yuuri proceeds to pull out his phone browser and did the first thing he could think of – conducting a Google search for that website he remember chancing upon once but could not remember its' full site address now. He then proceeds to copy the link address and paste it into his ongoing chats conversations with Viktor and press the 'send' button.

To Viktor: [insert website link] There you go, hope it helps. Now I have to start getting ready for my exams, talk to you later. Love you, and ciao for now~ 3 3 3

To Yuuri: Thank You :D Okay, talk to you later 333 Now to read that FAQ page you just send me *wink*

Just as a precaution, Yuuri completely turn off his phone for the next few hours to go. He wanted absolutely no distractions while he is doing his dance practical exam later, initially he thought to let Viktor knows just what exam he had later but the sheer thought of Viktor making a big fuss over it causes Yuuri to drop the idea entirely. He absolutely do not want to performs his exam dance in front of Viktor at a private setting later in time, so he decided to play it safe and not mention anything about his dance practical exam to the Russian at all.

As for his turning off his phone, well – after the dance practical exam he had to attend a rehearsal at Kyoto Murata Hall in preparation for the formal performances that evening. So, he thought it might be better to avoid being distracted by anymore calls or messages from Viktor until his performance is done for the night.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 31/3/17.


	36. Chapter 36

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 36

Yuuri's practical exams comprises of a dance segment where he was test on pole-dancing and break-dancing skills and techniques, the music would be chosen by the examiner at random and he have to react spontaneously when the music came on. For his flute playing practical exams, it is a more straight-forward approach. There would be a list of repertoire given to the students weeks before the scheduled exam session but the examiner would randomly pick a piece out from the list and expected the student taking the exam to play it by memory.

Thankfully, Yuuri's memory is top-notch good. Seeing as he never stayed away from music at all even after graduation in his last lifetime, his knowledge of music pieces never really deteriorate with time. The notes to the song which the examiner had picked out came right to him immediately, and he started to play the tune out with his flute without any hesitation. With that, his solo part of the flute practical was consider done and the next part is where the challenge is.

The next part of Yuuri's exam for flute practical is to play an ensemble piece with several other students taking exam on the same day of a different choice of instrument, and they were given a choice of two ensemble/chamber pieces with only one hour to prepare themselves for an ensemble performances in front of the examiners.

Yuuri's worries fled him the moment he landed his eyes on the members whom he was to work with for the second part of his practical exam, they were hardly strangers to him. Mikado Shinji – oboist; and two other members (one clarinetist, one bassoonist) of the UNIKII Philharmonic Orchestra that he had work with before but cannot seems to remember their names.

"Yuuri, I was thinking whether our last member would be you since I saw your name on the list of candidates taking exams this afternoon." Mikado Shinji beams at Yuuri when the flutist steps into their practice room.

"Hi, it's been a long time. I'm sorry I hasn't been in contact with you despite claiming to do so the last time we parted." Yuuri flushes crimson as he greeted the man back in response, the truth is his old self didn't think it possible for Mikado Shinji to want to stay in contact and had stash the oboist contact details somewhere else as soon as they parted ways with one another.

"It's fine, I know you are a busy man. Congrats on your gold medal in NHK Trophy last week?" Mikado Shinji smiles as he responded to Yuuri's words.

Upon Mikado's mention of the NHK Trophy, Yuuri could not help it but gaped at the oboist. "You followed figure-skating?"

"Erm… I know enough about figure skating, I supposed? My girlfriend is a fan of figure skating, she follows them earnestly and it is hard for me to not at least grasp some basics about the sport when she keeps on gushing about them to me during the seasons. Speaking of, do you mind signing something for me after the ensemble performances?" Mikado Shinji asks suddenly, causing Yuuri to flush a deeper red in his cheeks.

"Yeah, sure… if my signature is good enough for you to please your girlfriend…" Yuuri responded as he ducked his head lower to fight the urge of crawling elsewhere to hide from embarrassment.

"I'm sure its' fine, she's a fan of the retired Oda Nobunari… and if the JSF thinks you can reach Oda's standard. I think my girlfriend would be pleased to get your signature." Mikado Shinji smiled in response.

Actually, the performances is more of a chamber music performance than a full ensemble since there's only four persons involved including Yuuri. After some discussion, they decided upon the Sonatine by Eugene Bozza, partly because this is a piece which Yuuri is familiar with and need not spend more time on familiarizing himself with it. The rehearsal started soon after they had decided on the piece, and when Mikado Shinji stepped out to tell the examiner of their choice of piece to perform… Yuuri remained behind in the room to get re-familiarize with the other two members of the performance.

"So, how long would you be staying in Kyoto?" Mikado Shinji asks as they were packing up after their performance, and waiting for Yuuri to sign that weekly sports magazine which somehow features a special coverage on figure skating NHK Trophy Cup event this month. In which, there is a page with Yuuri's photo featuring an interview session conducted after the event.

"I'm leaving tomorrow at noon for my hometown in Kyushu. I intend to visit my family before leaving for the next competition in Russia, Sochi." Yuuri responded easily enough as he handed the signed copy of the magazine back to Mikado Shinji.

"Oh… well, looks like we have to catch up another time then. Just try not to misplace my contact details again, will you?" Mikado Shinji was telling Yuuri as he retrieved the sign copy of the magazine back from Yuuri.

"Don't worry, this time I have your number stored in my mobile. So, unless I were to misplace my phone I highly doubt I'm going to misplace your number." Yuuri responded as he waved his mobile gadget in front of Mikado Shinji, and after biding the oboist farewell did he finally turned his attention back to the flood of message from Viktor.

To Yuuri: Saw your performance video on Klassik_Seri channel! You're so smart-looking in there and I noticed you choose to use a bow-tie instead of that hideous blue tie of yours that you'd worn in Sochi for the banquet. Good decision, I calls it. That blue tie of yours is hideous and you really ought to burn it… you should wear your bow-tie to Sochi GPF Banquet though :D

To Viktor: *sweat-drop* I would stand out wearing bow-tie to the GPF Banquet, most of you wear the usual ties over. Yes, you no need to emphasize on how you think my blue tie is hideous… you'd mentioned it enough times over the past month already. For your information, I didn't bring that blue tie on this trip so you can rest assured that I would not be wearing it for GPF Sochi Banquet this time around.

The following day, 4th December 2015 – Yuuri checked out from the Kyoto Eco and Tec hotel after finishing his last free breakfast supplied by the hotel. He had once again, booked his Shinkansen ticket to Kyushu Region on-line the night before. This time around, the Shinkansen journey would take 2 hours and 43 minutes costing him 16,200 Yen in total just for the train ticket itself.

Although, the Nozomi Train is expensive but it is faster than Hikari or Kodama Train that will take nearly five hours to arrive at the destination. Yuuri would prefer shorter traveling time instead of longer traveling time, hence his decision to go for Nozomi Train Service. Seeing as the Shinkansen that runs from Kyoto to Kyushu would not bring him directly to Hasetsu, he would have to alight and transit in Fukuoka City for the local train services to head back to his home town.

Deciding to save some money on his lunch, he decided to buy the bento lunch set available at the Shinkansen station of Kyoto instead of taking his lunch in the restaurants of the malls. The journey from Kyoto to Fukuoka, Hakata – Yuuri spend them on planning his itinerary for his Sochi Trip. The Grand Prix Finals in Sochi would be taking place over the period of 10th December to 13th December 2015, and knowing that he needs time to sleep off his jet-lag he probably need to book his flight to Sochi earlier.

"Looks like I only have 3 Days 4 Nights at home, oh well – I'll just make the best of it then." Yuuri mumbled to himself as he closed his notebook with his itinerary plan with a snap and turned towards the window of the moving train admiring the scenery that passes him by as the train moves along the railway tracks heading for Kyushu.

He took his bento lunch set around noon hours, since there isn't anywhere for him to discard the bento box and used chopsticks – he put them back into his self-prepared trash bag and tied them tightly in place before stuffing it into his backpack. He will discard the trash bag when he arrived at his destination, the Hakata station at Fukuoka which is also the capital city of Kyushu region of Japan.

From Hakata to Hasetsu, it is another one hour plus journey so Yuuri took the time to visit a public bathroom and discard his trash accumulated along the journey from Kyoto to Fukuoka, Hakata. While in the bathroom, he pulled out his mobile phone and dropped his elder sister – Mari a text message that says the following:

From Yuuri: Mari-nee, just reached Fukuoka – Hakata station. See you in another hour or so.

After sending the message off to Mari, Yuuri tugged his luggage behind him as he headed for the platform where the local train services operates on. Yuuri is in luck, he supposed. He managed to catch the Express Train Service Kuko Line that would only takes him an hour eight minute or so to Hasetsu. Still despite the shorten train journey from Fukuoka to Hasetsu, by the time he arrived at the Hasetsu Station with all his luggage tugged behind him, he was still very much weary from all the train rides. Thankfully, his elder sister Mari had come by the station to pick him up in the family's van so he need not walk home with all his luggage from the station.

"Thanks for the ride, Mari-nee." Yuuri said as he slide into the passenger seat next to the driver's seat.

"Nah, its' fine – I'm out running an errand either way. So, shall we go then? Don't say I didn't warn you…but Vic-chan might jump you the moment you entered through the door though. It is as though he knew you are coming back and could hardly sit still for the morning." Mari Katsuki was telling Yuuri as she started the van's engine to get a move on for their journey back to the inn.

"Really?" Yuuri's eyes widen and brighten at the name of his toy poodle, oh gosh how he had missed having Vic-chan around.

True to Mari's words of caution, Yuuri had barely managed to step foot into Yu-topia Hot Spring Inn when a blur of brown came tackling him down that causes him to fall back on his back.

"Wow~ easy there, Vic-chan!" Yuuri commented as he was given a full face-licking greeting from his poodle friend.

"Woof!" Vic-chan barked in response upon hearing his name from his owner.

"I warned you, didn't I?" Beside him, Mari smirked as she help unloaded his luggage and hands them over to his awaiting parents' standing at the front of the inn to welcome him home.

"Yes, you did warn me about Vic-chan's enthusiasm." Yuuri replied dryly as he pulled himself back up on his feet and allow his beloved poodle to tail him from behind as he entered the home that he had been away for nearly five years.

"It's been a long time, Dad and Mom." Yuuri greeted with tearful eyes as he embraces them with a loose hug.

"It's good to see you back, Yuuri… and congratulations on your gold medal in NHK Trophy. I'll cook you plenty of Katsudon later for dinner, alright?" Katsuki Hiroko, Yuuri's middle-age mother smiles warmly at Yuuri as she welcome her son whom has been absent for a long time home.

"Thank you, Mom. I would like to soak in the onsen first, if that's alright?" Yuuri questions, unsure if the onsen is full of local patrons or not at this timing of the day.

"Sure, go on ahead. Business is slow these days, so the onsen were never fully packed like the old days. Go on and soak in the onsen, I'll make sure Vic-chan stay out here." Hiroko told Yuuri as she herded the toy poodle off to the backyard where Vic-chan is given free rein to explore and play around.

"Thanks Mom." Yuuri smiled in gratitude, before leaving his luggage where it was for his parents' to help bring it back to his room while he headed for the onsen.

Slipping himself into the hot spring water is truly a blissful feeling for Yuuri whom had been away for too long. Before he knew it, he nearly dozes off in the midst of his hot spring soak. Thank god his sister pop in to check on him by yelling out to him from the changing room about having leave him a change of clothing behind, else he might have really fell asleep in the onsen and that might causes him to fall sick. Hot water or not, falling asleep in the onsen during early winter despite it being the indoor tub is not advisable.

Dinner for Yuuri is of course the Katsudon, his favorite dish of all times and he spend the evening playing around with Vic-chan and conversing with his family members on his plan to stay in Hasetsu for of three days.

"Well, if you are going to fly to Sochi from Fukuoka… what are you going to do with your training? You do need to train to keep up with your routines right?" Mari frowned as she questions Yuuri on his training plans.

"I have arranged with Yuuko to book the Ice Castle Hasetsu for private training sessions from 5th December to 7th December, the three days I'm around. As for the person to oversee my training while I'm here in Hasetsu, Asami-san has agreed to come over during that period of days to supervise my training." Yuuri responded matter-of-factly.

"Ah… speaking of Asami-san, I did receive a phone booking from her requesting a room for three days earlier on in the day. She is schedule to arrive at Yu-topia tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. and would be placed in room number 35 on third floor of the guests wing." Hiroko Katsuki spoke up then, as she placed the bowl of Katsudon freshly prepared for Yuuri in front of her son.

Yu-topia Hot Spring Inn is a traditional looking inn that comes with a guests wing, family wing and a common area space. The common area space consists of the indoor public bath-house for local patrons and guests alike separated by genders, and an outdoor onsen pool that is not open for usage in the season of winter. The outdoor onsen pool was initially built as a mix-gender pool but typically only men uses it, since women generally keep to the indoor bath house facility instead.

The guests wing as the name suggested is mostly caters to the guests staying at the inn, and local patrons do not stay the night. They mostly came in to pay and use the bath-house facility or to hang out with other local patron at the common dining area which functions as a restaurant to both locals and tourists alike.

The common area comes with a TV where Yuuri used to watch the Figure Skating Championship Tournament Live with Yuuko, and it also includes a corner where tourists could pick up local sight-seeing brochures and pamphlets as well as keep up with local news with the newspaper and magazines made available for public use. While there are no computer stations available for patrons usage, the inn provides free WIFI services so patrons are welcome to bring along their own laptop to use in the common areas.

Yuuri's room is over at the family wing instead of the guests' wing, the last time around when Viktor dropped everything and appear in front of Yuuri. A rare snowstorm in the middle of May had happened the night before, causing a lot of local patrons trapped in town and since Yutopia Hot Spring Inn is the only accommodation place in the town of Hasetsu – it ends up with the inn completely booked up within the span of the day. Hence, Viktor's sudden arrival and with that much luggage causes a slight panic in Yutopia as they found that they do not have rooms big enough to fit Viktor's belongings and thus ending up having to put Viktor up in the un-used banquet room that is along the corridor way that separate the family wing and the guests wing.

When Yurio swings by for his impromptu visit to Hasetsu, due to the lack of booking – Yutopia is unable to allow Yurio to use their rooms in the proper guests wing. However, they are not that terrible to chase Yurio out either so the Katsuki family decided to allow Yurio to stay in their storage room over at the family wing instead. So, really – neither Viktor nor Yurio actually stay in the proper guests' wing of Yutopia Hot Spring Inn the last time around. Moreover, with Viktor's declaration of him coming to coach Yuuri – the Katsuki family of course would not treat him like a typical guest staying in their inn. Thus, Viktor found himself welcome into the Katsuki family as though he is a part of it since his first day stay at the Yutopia Hot Spring Inn.

Subsequently, with Yuuri and Viktor's relationship development – Viktor was officially integrated into the Katsuki family and hence was given a proper room in the family wing of the inn when the duo pops in for a visit during the off-seasons of their competitive days. Yurio, as the duo's unofficial 'son' in the equation was of course treated like a fellow member of the family too so he never stayed in the guests quarters as well.

Yuuri was draw out from his thoughts and observations when he heard his poodle barks repeatedly at him. Glancing back down at Vic-chan, Yuuri falters for a split second before he shook his head firmly at the poodle and said.

"No, Vic-chan. I am not giving you any Katsudon, you need to stick to your diet."

Vic-chan whine and nosed its nose at Yuuri's lap pleading his case, but Yuuri remain firm in not caving in to the poodle's pitiful whine. When Vic-chan did not stop its' puppy eyes gaze and pitiful whine at Yuuri, the man stood and headed to the kitchen before pouring out a bowl of the dry pet food from the bag of Royal Cannin into Vic-chan's bowl and placed it in front of the poodle.

"Well, you're hungry – aren't you? So, go on and have your dinner. I am not feeding you any Katsudon, you can eat your own food instead." Yuuri chided at his poodle, he was not going to cave on this. He wants to see Vic-chan lives through his Sochi GPF this time around, and he will be firm with the dog if situation deems it necessary.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 31/3/17.

A/N: I removed it from main chapter itself, but doesn't feel right not to include the information so here's it.

From Kyoto to Kyushu – the Shinkansen line is the Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen. It will stop at Fukuoka City, Hakata station since Fukuoka is the Capital City of Kyushu Region. For further Shinkansen Travel within Kyushu Region etc. please switch over to the Kyushu Shinkansen services.

The 1 hour 8 mins journey from Hakata to Hasetsu is based on the time needed to travel from Hakata to Karatsu. From Hakata you have several ways of heading for Karatsu, includes the following:

Kuko Line from Hakata Station – Express service that head towards Nishi Karatsu (1h7m)

Kuko Line from Hakata Station – Local Service that stops at every station towards Nishi Karatsu (1h 23m)

Hakata JR Station – Limited Express Train Service Kamome to Saga Station – transit to Local Train Service heading for Nishi Karatsu to Karatsu Station. (1h 43m)

FYI – Shinkansen Kyushu operates Mizuho, Sakura & Tsubame.


	37. Chapter 37

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 37

Yuuri_K

[Image]

5 likes

Yuuri_K Vic-chan sulking due to the No Katsudon policy implemented by the vet.

Viktor Nikiforov was aimlessly going through his instagram feeds when he noticed a new post on Yuuri's instagram account. The sight of that miniature toy poodle almost melted his heart, Vic-chan is so cute! Oh that poor poodle banned from eating Katsudon and can only eat the Royal Cannin pet food for dogs, Viktor almost wish he could fly over to cuddle that poor little thing.

Pulling out his Whatsapp application, Viktor immediately drop a message to Yuuri asking if he could call.

To Yuuri: Can I call? Btw, why did you not tell me that you're heading back to Hasetsu?

To Viktor: Get in the queue; I have a schedule video call session with Phichit in ten minutes. I will text you later to let you know when you can call. As for my return to Hasetsu, did I forget to tell you before?

To Yuuri: Yes, you forget *sad* Oh, and that picture of Vic-chan sulking is so cute! I'm definitely going to show Makkachin later *grin*

To Viktor: Oops, sorry – must have slipped my mind due to the hectic schedule over the past weeks. As for the image of Vic-chan, well he is trying to use his cuteness against me as much as possible now… but I'm not going to cave to his puppy eyes look. Regardless how he whines about it, I am not going to feed any Katsudon scrapes to him.

To Yuuri: *teary eyes* Aww… poor vic-chan… I wish I could send some of Makka's toys along to cheer him up.

To Viktor: Please don't, just because Makkachin tends to bring you his toys when you're feeling down does not means you should do the same for your namesake, my poodle. The two of you are completely different, and besides I don't think Makkachin will appreciate the sight of his favorite toys going missing.

To Yuuri: I know… I'm just joking *laughing icon* Well, I shall leave you in peace to chat with Phichit now. Remember to buzz me when I can call. *wink*

Yuuri shakes his head at Viktor's message with a fond smile on his lips, Vic-chan is laying in Yuuri's lap napping peacefully. Seeing as it has been a long time since Yuuri had seen Vic-chan, he did not try to stop his poodle from cozying up to him. Starting tomorrow, he is going to start bringing Vic-chan out for exercise. Granted, his pace would be a little slow while trying to accommodate Vic-chan's speed but he could always do another round of jogging in the evening and spend his morning jog time with his poodle.

His video chat conversation with Phichit was as delightful as always, Phichit complains about the lack of company in the dorm room with him being away and how Celestino had him on a harsh training regimen since the Italian's return from NHK Trophy three days ago. Apparently, Celestino has used Yuuri's SP performance as Phichit's latest benchmark and had shot down Phichit's request for doing a program using the songs from 'The King and the Skater' once again.

"Well, you can always try again for the next season. For now, its' better for you to concentrate on that Nationals Championship of Thailand coming next April, isn't it?" Yuuri started, hoping that he did not remember the dates wrongly. It has been years for him, after all.

"Yes, it's in April… 1st to 3rd April next year, in fact." Phichit sigh in response, before updating Yuuri a little on the musical progression.

"Right, the musical… so how did you do for the exam? Do you think you would do well enough to stay on the casts?" Yuuri asks next trying not to disturb Vic-chan as he leaned over to grab something from the foot of his bed.

"I think I can pass the papers but I don't think I'll do very well though." Phichit responded, wondering why he had chosen to do a business course for his diploma class instead. He really should have goes for the foreign language course; at least that looks interesting. Business modules are just so… dull and plain.

"So long you can pass your papers is good enough to stay on the musical team. Any idea if Kanade has left the country yet?" Yuuri asks then, he wants to ask Kanade's permission before releasing that private dance practice video to Viktor seeing as that was film during a rehearsal session in preparation for Kanade's senior concert event – 'Battle of the Bands' an internal UNIKII organized competitions for the students under the idol training program.

"I still saw him this morning at vocal training session, so I assumed he hasn't? You can text him directly to check his travel plans with him though; you have his number – don't you?" Phichit questions Yuuri back in return.

"It's okay, I'll just check with him later." Yuuri shrug as he said to Phichit as he shifted around to get more comfortable on his bed. The moment he shifted, Vic-chan let out a startled bark and Yuuri immediately apologized to his beloved poodle for the sudden movement.

"Was that the infamous Vic-chan I heard?" Phichit raised an eyebrow in question as he asks.

"Yes, well…" Yuuri paused for a minute as he cuddled the poodle up to his chest, bringing the phone closer to Vic-chan's sight and told his poodle to say hello to Phichit.

Phichit laughed upon the sight of a curious Vic-chan pawing at the phone in Yuuri's hand, before greeting the poodle with a warm greeting as well. Yuuri continue his conversation with Phichit for another few minutes before calling it quit seeing as it's almost time for Phichit's training session at DSC over at Detroit.

Once he ended his video call with Phichit, he dropped a text off to Viktor claiming that Viktor is now allowed to call him. While waiting for Viktor's call to come in, he text Kanade on Whatsapp and asks.

To Kanade: When is your flight back to Japan?

To Yuuri: I'm flying back later this afternoon, Detroit time – most likely will reach Japan the following day. Why do you ask? Do you want to come and pick me up at the airport?

To Kanade: *roll eyes* Nah… just double checking, since you did mention that you are going to do the list of events on Serizawa Sensei's schedule except he Nagoya Recital and the one that took place during exam week.

To Yuuri: Orz… don't remind me, I swear no one should spend their holiday breaks doing concert and recital events like I am going to do. A typical holiday break should involve relaxing and lazing around, not bustling about the island of Japan performing in recitals and concerts.

To Kanade: Serizawa's sensei list of events does not takes up the entire month though, there's one in Kyoto on 15th Dec and then 2 for Christmas in Kyushu area and the last one in my hometown – Hasetsu. It's hardly the entire holiday break, and if we were to compare schedule I think I will still be the winner. I am, after all, flying off to Russia Sochi three days later. I'm staying there for about one week, and then I'm flying back to Japan to spend another few days here at home in peace before traveling down to Hokkaido, Sapporo for the National Championship Tournament and then back to Hasetsu for the New Year Countdown event. Then, on 2nd January 2016 I'm flying back to Detroit for my last term with UNIKII.

To Yuuri: *Faint* Alright, you win again. So, what's up? I wasn't expecting you to text me at all over the holiday except when it's to check the repertoire lists for your performance. Seeing as you won't be joining in any event until the Hasetsu New Year Countdown party event… I'm going to take it as you have something to ask me, so shoot!

To Kanade: You're right to say that, I do have to ask you something. You remember that dance rehearsal video filmed before your senior concert? I have a friend whom mentions that he wish to watch my dance performance on a up-close scale and the only one available that I could think of is that informal dance rehearsal video. Is it okay for me to show him that?

To Yuuri: Ah… sure, do you need me to send you the video or do you still have it on your phone?

To Kanade: I still have it but I just want to check with you beforehand if it's okay if I send him that video, since it's a private rehearsal video…

To Yuuri: Go ahead, there's nothing confidential in that video anymore since we already did the official showcase.

To Kanade: Thanks, I guess I'll see you on 31st Dec in Hasetsu then.

Yuuri spend the next hour working on transferring the relevant videos from his phone memory into his laptop, and then making use the in-built DVD writer program he burn the videos into a DVD-R that he found in one of his drawer cabinet. He had a stack of DVD-R ready at hand at all times due to his earlier frequent need to send videos of his own performance to competitions organizers before these music competitions organizations finally approved the use of performance recorded and uploaded on YouTube for the audition stage.

When Viktor finally managed to call Yuuri, the Asian had already finished burning all the dance rehearsals videos he had on hand into the DVD-R ready to package it together with the rest of the official released concert DVDs he had found in a second-hand CDs store in Kyoto that he intended to give to the Russian as a Christmas/Birthday present. Aside from readying the gift for Viktor, he had already finished calling up Yuuko to double-confirm his booking of the rink session at Ice Castle Hasetsu.

"Sorry, Yuuri~ I couldn't call you earlier, I want to but I have to finish speaking with Yurio's home room teacher first." Viktor apologized over the phone connection.

"I see… but no worries, I wasn't just staring at the phone and waiting for you to call me. I did accomplished some things while waiting for your call as well, so its' fine. How did the meeting go?" Yuuri asks back in return, settling himself back in bed as he held the phone to his ear.

"It went well I think, Yurio did not react negatively so I think I didn't overstep my boundary? Basically, the entire meeting rotates around Yurio's future education path… it seems the home room teacher had caught wind of Yurio's intention to stop continuing his study to pursue a profession in figure skating. The home room teacher expresses her concerns over it, as she fears that without a proper education or qualification Yurio would be left without something to fall back on in an unforeseen situation. Not that she wants to jinx Yurio's career as a figure skater or anything, but her fears were not exactly unfounded. There are cases of figure skaters being involved in an accident during training and the injury was so severe that it totally ruins the skater's chance of going professional ever again. I think Yurio do understands it as well, hence he restrains himself from lashing out at the home room teacher." Viktor told Yuuri as he summarizes the entire meeting between him and Yurio's home room teacher.

"Okay, so what's Yurio's thought on it?" Yuuri prompted, trying to keep himself awake but it is a little hard to do so since it is late at night in Japan. Viktor had most likely forgotten about how Japan was six-hours ahead of Saint Petersburg, Russia again.

"Yurio just said he will think about it in front of his home room teacher but he insists upon that he will finish the year and graduate high school. Well, high school by Russia's standard – our elementary education is only four years, from 5th grade onwards its' considered secondary education. So, Yurio despite having being only 15 would be considered a high-school graduate by end of the year. After that he refuses to set foot in a campus ever again, that's his insistence." Viktor sighed in response, as he started fretting over Yurio's future with Yuuri listening on the other end of the phone connection.

"Well… there are always courses on-line that he could sign up and attend without stepping foot into campus grounds. You could always sound him out with this suggestion? He did say he will think about it in front of his home room teacher, and besides didn't our Yurio eventually pick up culinary skills after his retirement? I distinctly recalls him mention something about wanting to open a restaurant or was it a food stall selling fusion delicacy like the Katsudon-Pirozhki that his grandfather invented? Alternatively, he could always take a page out of your books and takes up coaching instead." Yuuri said as he let out a yawn, not bothering to hide it this time.

"You know what, I think you're right. I'll probably speak to Yurio about getting him to continue his studies at least on-line, so he won't be completely lost like he did back in our time when the time comes for his retirement." Viktor said after a minute of silence, and Yuuri only hummed sleepily in response.

"Viktor… I know you want to continue chatting with me but I'm too sleepy now to keep up with you. Can I call you back tomorrow afternoon instead? I'll try to call you before your training session." Yuuri told Viktor drowsily, his eyelids drooping as he voiced his words across the connection.

There was a pause on the other end of the line before a gasp was heard, followed by Viktor's gush of "I'm sorry Yuuri~~~ I didn't realize it was this late already. Do go ahead and sleep, I'll just wait for you to call me tomorrow morning. Good night, Yuuri and I love you."

"Love you too… good night." Yuuri murmured back before ending the connection and leaving the phone discarded where it was – by the side of his pillow and fell promptly asleep.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 31/3/17.


	38. Chapter 38

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 38

The three full days Yuuri spend at Hasetsu was a good change from his usual hectic schedule. Aside from the first day upon his arrival to his childhood home, he was literally swamped by greetings from family friends and local patrons who knows him from his childhood days. That was in the early evening part of the day, and then the later part of the evening after his well-deserved bowl of Katsudon for dinner… he spend his time chatting with several people on the phone.

First there is Phichit who catches him up on the latest happenings with the musical crew, and how the production is coming along. Next, he had several Whatsapp chats conversation going on at the same time. There is Kanade whom he had contacted for permission to include a dance rehearsal video which involves Kanade to send to Viktor along with his other personal dance practice videos that was film by a classmate during lesson time.

Aside from Kanade, he is also speaking with Tsukishiro Asami and Serizawa Chieko on Whatsapp at the same time. The former is a message send to confirm his rink time schedule at Ice Castle Hasetsu, and the latter with his confirmation response of attending the New Year Countdown Party organized by the Hasetsu Local Community Organization. Last but not least, there is that phone conversation with Viktor that took up the rest of his night until he could barely finds it in him to keep his eyes from drooping.

Yuuri's first official day in Hasetsu started off with a good morning jog with his pet poodle Vic-chan running after him. The one good thing about Hasetsu being a sleepy town is that there is not a lot of vehicles moving about during the peak hours of the morning, unlike the main cities in the country. After the morning jog, Yuuri headed back to Yu-topia for his breakfast – a full traditional morning meal complete with rice.

After breakfast, Yuuri left Vic-chan with his elder sister Mari Katsuki while he changed into his training gear; collected his skates from his room and set off for the Ice Castle Hasetsu for his scheduled rink practice. Due to his requests for privacy, Yuuko and Takeshi had closed the rink for the morning part of the day and only re-opens it for public use from noon onwards. At least, Yuuri can get a good two hours of private practice in before he had to share the rink with members of the public.

Tsukishiro Asami's role is easy, there wasn't much instructing she needs to do with Yuuri's case. So, despite Yuuri's suggestion to pay her for her time spend in Hasetsu – Tsukishiro Asami had rejected the offer.

"It's fine, I am in need of a quick getaway trip from my job as well. I'll just take this as an informal holiday trip. There's no need for you to pay me, I am not even coaching you here… I am just here to play supervisor to your practice session. If it makes you feel better, I could always conduct a skating workshop here for the Hasetsu branch." Tsukishiro Asami responded in a firm-like tone of voice.

"In that case, at least let me speak with my parents' about waiving your accommodation fee at Yu-topia, it wouldn't make me feel at ease otherwise." Yuuri eventually relented and told Tsukishiro Asami this in response.

"Alright." Asami nodded, albeit reluctantly because she knew tourism business in Hasetsu is not doing as well as before… by refusing her payment, Yu-topia could jolly well be suffering from a financial loss. Still, when Yuuri put it in this way it doesn't seems right for her to keep rejecting Yuuri's offer either. In the end, she accepted the accommodation fee waiver but inwardly vowed that she would referred some of her international friends to drop by Hasetsu and patron Yu-topia the next time around they mentioned about visiting Japan.

Yuuri's rink time includes a two hours session of private time in the morning, and then a two hour public rink time where he shares the rink with local patrons. After which, Yuuri left the rink for a few hours only returning after dinner to continue his training session in private. During the few hours whereby he wasn't at the rink, he first went to get his lunch at a nearby sushi restaurant.

Not that he cannot choose to go home for lunch, but simply because he knew if he went back home he would not be able to resist the temptations of accepting his mother's offer of the Katsudon. He knew he had two bowls of Katsudon to claim, and he had already claimed one bowl the previous evening for his first dinner back home. He was planning to save the other bowl until the day he was due to leave for Sochi, and not cash it in on his second day back in Hasetsu.

Either way, after his quick-lunch at the sushi restaurant nearby – Yuuri went for a walk around the area before heading his way to his late grandmother's former residence and piano studio. The building looks like it is still in good condition despite the lack of occupants, most likely due to his mother's regular housekeeping efforts. As Yuuri did not have the keys to the house, all he did was to take a walk about the courtyard of the property before making a turn and headed for the local temple instead.

Hasetsu, small as it is does have its own shrine and temple within its vicinity area that serves the locals. While foreigners tends to mix them up, they are in essence completely different from one another. Shrine are typically used to host weddings, while temple is where funerals are held and where locals visited for prayers to their ancestors. Although, there is a local cemetery around but that is all the way over at the other side of the town where the crematorium is. So, Yuuri decided the next best thing he could do for a prayer to his late grandmother would be at the temple.

Yuuri timed his return to Yu-topia carefully to avoid the lunch crowd because he wanted to avoid being dragged into another strange debate of which baseball team is better between two of the local patrons again. Just because he would occasionally watch baseball league on TV with his father, it doesn't mean he follows them at all. In fact, he was completely clueless about how many teams does Japan have active in the current baseball league nor does he have any idea what the organization in charge of professional baseball players is.

The only thing Yuuri knows about the sports baseball is that it would be played on a diamond shape field, with a pitcher pitching the ball to the catcher and a batter from the other opposing team trying to bat the ball. The team playing batters is usually the attacking party, while the pitcher and catcher together with the rest of the fielders belongs to the defending team. That, and usually the two teams will interchangeably switch between attacking and defending until the winner emerged.

Other than these basic information, Yuuri was at a complete loss when it comes down to the game of baseball. So, one could imagine how he had felt when he was trap in the middle of two old men supporting different baseball team playing in the professional league and wanting him to judge of which team is better.

The first thing he did after arriving home is to check the time, and then promptly checked his email for Celestino's incoming mail. The Italian coach had sent a message to Yuuri earlier on, asking for the Asian to check his email for information with regards to the Sochi GPF Trip. Celestino had asks in the email for Yuuri's intended set-off date for Sochi so he could liaised with the events planner on ISU side to book their accommodation and flight for them. Due to their traveling to Sochi from different parts of the world, they most likely had to arrange to meet up with one another at the airport of Sochi itself. While it is a hassle for the event planner to book their flights separately, but at least with Yuuri's intended set off date mention - the event planner involved with assisting them with their flight and accommodation details will have an easier time finding suitable flights for each of them that will land on the same day and time.

To: yuurikatsuki1992 .jp  
From: celestino_ciaociao  
Subject: Re: Sochi GPF Trip  
Yuuri,  
Please send me your intended date of departure so I can get the event planner on ISU side that's assigned to help us with our flight and accommodation booking to find one that will allow us to reach Sochi on the same day. Unlike the other events, it seems with the Sochi GPF there wasn't a list of accommodation to choose from - the event planner had said that they will be housing all competitors, coaches and judges alike in the Tulip Inn Sochi Omega hotel this time around. I have been by to look at the hotel's website link and from what little English information up on the website, it seems nice enough. What do you think?  
[insert hotel website link]  
Check out the website and let me know if you are okay with the hotel choice. If you are not, I will discuss with the event planner and see if there's another alternative option available.  
Regards,  
Celestino.

The email from Celestino was found pretty soon enough, and Yuuri merely took one quick skim of the email content before hitting on the reply button to respond to the email. Having already experience the Sochi GPF once back in his last lifetime, Yuuri already knew he has no problem with this particular hotel during the period of his stay in Sochi.

To: celestino_ciaociao  
From: yuurikatsuki1992 .jp  
Subject: Re: Sochi GPF Trip  
Celestino,  
I'm okay with the hotel, so you can let the ISU event planner knows to go ahead on with the booking. I plan to leave on the 8th of December, speaking of, have the event planner mention anything about arranging transportation for us from airport to hotel? If not, can I get Viktor to help with the arrangement perhaps? According to him, it's very hard to get a cab in Russia as many cab drivers don't speak English and only knows Russian.  
Regards,  
Yuuri Katsuki.

After reading through his email content several times and certain that he had not left out anything from it, Yuuri hit the send button and return his attention to his pet poodle Vic-chan which had somehow wriggled its way on-to his lap again.

"Vic-chan, why are you cuddling up to me again? Isn't it good enough that you makes me cuddle you in bed last night? You really misses me that bad, huh?" Yuuri smiled down at his beloved pet poodle as he asks his questions, despite knowing that Vic-chan probably would not be able to answer him anything.

In fact, all Vic-chan did was to look up at Yuuri with his adorable puppy eyes and bark a low barking sound in response. Yuuri laughed, he couldn't help it and then he gave in and said. "Alright, you win… I'll take you out for a walk."

Seeing as he still had sometime left before he is due to go back to the rink for more practice, Yuuri approached his mother with the requests that he wanted to visit his late grandmother's home.

"There you go, this is the keys for her property. You know, she left you the piano in her will. It's probably still sitting where it was, since you're heading over you might as well check out its' state. I did the dusting and polishing on regular basis, but I'm not sure how the piano internal condition is like. You might want to check and give some professionals a call if you thinks it need a complete overhaul before it can function properly again." Hiroko Katsuki said as she handed over the keys to her late mother's property to her son, Yuuri.

"I know, thanks Mom." Yuuri smiled a small smile at Hiroko before beckoning for Vic-chan as he stepped out of his home and headed for his late grand-mother's residence.

Vic-chan trotted happily behind Yuuri as they made their way to the late Onoda Mikako's residence. While Yuuri was checking on the upright piano's condition that is sitting in his grandmother's piano studio, Vic-chan was happily entertaining itself in the courtyard of the property.

"Looks like the piano is in the same condition I found it in the last time around, an overhaul it shall be but not so soon. I'll have someone overhaul it after my retiring from competitive skating. No point scheduling an overhaul now when I have no plans of converting it into a franchise branch of Klassik School of Music yet." Yuuri murmurs to himself, before continuing his exploration of his late grand-mother's residence.

It does seems like his mother do comes by regularly for general housekeeping duties because there is not a speck of dust found in the house. The furnitures have been either cloaked in white large canopy cloth to prevent dust from settling on them or had been clear off and sold or donated off to charity organizations. Yuuri made a mental point to ask his mother for the property blueprint a few years down the road so he could put his revamping plan of his grandmother's residence into mind.

"Come on, Vic-chan – it's time to go!" Yuuri called out for his poodle once he had locked the door to the inside of the property once more. Soon enough, he spotted his poodle coming around from the back of the house looking like a mess.

"You need a bath, Vic-chan!" Yuuri declared upon the sight of his poodle, looks like the poodle had taken a dip into a mud puddle nearby when he wasn't looking. Vic-chan whines but still followed behind Yuuri dutifully back to the hot spring inn Yu-topia, where Yuuri promptly led the poodle over to where the outdoor watering hose was and gave Vic-chan a quick shower before the poodle could run off and hides.

Yuuri received another email from Celestino later that day, since he is nowhere near his laptop - he accessed his email from his phone's Yahoo mail application instead. Wanting to know his flight details so he could better plan his travel trip from Hasetsu to whatever airport his flight would be taking off from, Yuuri took a ten minute break from his training and read through the mail instead.

To: yuurikatsuki1992 .jp

cc:

From: celestino_ciaociao

Subject: Flight Details & Accommodation Information

Yuuri,

This is the finalized flight details that Corraine (our events planner for Sochi GPF) forwarded to me just now. Below are the details for your flight:

Departure Date: 8th December 2015

Departing Venue: Fukuoka International Airport, Japan

Total Flight Time: 16 hours 20 mins.

Flight 1: A 1 hour 40 minute flight from Fukuoka to Shanghai, Pudong via China Eastern Airlines MU532.

Boarding Time: 9.50 a.m.(Japan Time)

Layover in Shanghai, Pudong for 1 hour 10 minute

Flight 2: Connecting flight to Moscow, Russia via Aeroflot SU209 for 9 hours 25 minute.

Boarding Time: 11.40 a.m

Layover in Moscow, Russia for 1 hour 40 minute

Flight 3: Connecting flight to Sochi, Russia via Aeroflot for 2 hours 25 minute.

Boarding Time:5.45 p.m. (Russia Time)

Arrival at Sochi Airport: 8th December 2015, 8.10 p.m.

Accommodation: Tulip Inn Omega Sochi

FYI, I'm setting off a day earlier on the 7th December 2015 from Detroit, USA (DTW) as my flight is at 8.10 p.m. Detroit Time. Will be laying over in Helsinki, before flying to Moscow another layover for 1 hour 40 minutes before landing in Sochi. Our landing time are about the same so perhaps we could meet up at the arrival gate? Let me know if you want to meet else where.

Your hotel room is a single room, as per the usual arrangement for past events. I have the e-booking confirmation on me, but I'll attached your flight e-ticket and details to you with this email.

Regards,

Celestino.

Yuuri read through the details swiftly, certain that he had all the information required on hand before hitting the replying to all button on his email application.

To: celestino_ciaociao

Cc:

Subject: Re: Sochi GPF Trip

Celestino,

Duly noted. I will let you know if I want to meet else-where later.

Ms. Corraine,

Will the ISU be providing transport from airport to accommodation?

Regards,

Yuuri Katsuki

To: yuurikatsuki1992 .jp

Cc: celestino_ciaociao

Subject: Sochi GPF Transportation Issue

Dear Yuuri Katsuki,

The ISU has arranged for a chartered bus service that will be transporting participants of the event to and fro from airport to accommodation only on 9th Dec 2015 where majority of the competitors, coaches and judges would be arriving as well as the 14th December 2015 morning after the event draw to a close. I'm afraid the ISU do not have the extra budget to arrange private transportation for your party as you would be arriving one day in advance as compared to the other participants. So as per the usual agreement between the events planning side and your coach, you would have to make your own arrangement for transport if you choose to arrive earlier than the other participants of the event.

Regards,

Corraine

ISU International Events Team

Upon receiving the response from the event planner about no transportation would be arrange for Celestino and him on the day of their arrival to Sochi, Yuuri proceeds to drop Viktor a message about taking up his offer of arranging cab services for them on the 8th of December 2015.

To Yuuri: Got it, so can I have the details of both your travel plans? So, I can tell the cab driver what time to go over and pick the two of you up.

To Viktor: Both of us should land in Sochi Airport around 8.10 p.m. However, we can't tell for sure if there will be any delay at the customs or flights schedule... so might be best if you arrange for the cab to comes by around 9 p.m. or so? I can't talk much now, my break time is up. Will talk to you after the training.

To Yuuri: Okay, wait for your cue for me to call then. *smile & wink*

~to be continued~

Date completed: 3/4/17.


	39. Chapter 39

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 39

Viktor Nikiforov was in the midst of his dinner when Yuuri called him, immediately he disregard his dinner and focus his attention solely on his ringing phone.

"Yuuri! You called, but isn't it mid-night for you by now?" Viktor asks out of curiosity.

"Yes, well… but I just took a shower and its' not good going to bed with wet hair so I'm calling you while toweling dry my hair." Yuuri responded, keeping his voice soft not wanting to wake the dozing poodle by the feet of his bed while he had his phone on speaker mode.

"Oh, so seeing as you did call me… can I assume that the flight details of Celestino's has been confirmed?" Viktor decides to follow Yuuri example and had his phone on speaker mode as well, just so he could continue his dinner.

"Yes, actually I already gave you the details in Whatsapp. Please go back and read through my last message to you. But in-case you're too lazy for it, I'll just repeat myself. I think it would be good for the cab to pick us up around 9 p.m. since that would give us plenty of time to collect our luggage from the luggage belt and to buy our pre-paid sim-card at the MegaFon service booth in the airport." Yuuri said in a dry tone of voice, deciding to just tell Viktor verbally as well. The Whatsapp information could serve as a reminder to the Russian, since the man does have the uncanny ability to forget things sometimes.

"Oh, so you do remember which company's sim-card to get – I was going to remind you that as well." Viktor smiles upon Yuuri's response, despite that Yuuri probably can't see him due to this call being a normal voice call.

"Unfortunately, I remember my Sochi experience pretty well except for the banquet events so I don't really need your reminder." Yuuri said as he eventually gave up on using towel and reached for his seldom used hair-dryer instead.

Vic-chan stirred as the sound of the dryer started, but a peek later the poodle settle itself back to bed. It seems the morning and afternoon run had tires the dog out, so it was now peacefully napping instead of bothering Yuuri. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about Viktor the human.

Unlike his namesake, Viktor despite fully aware of the late timing where Yuuri was continues his conversation with the Asian man even after the sound of Yuuri's hair-dryer had stopped. With a sigh, Yuuri switched the mode of the call from speaker mode to handheld mode and took the phone with him as he climbed into bed and slid under the covers.

"Sorry, what did you just say?" Yuuri blinked when he realized he had missed a whole chunk of Viktor's words because he was thinking about his plans for the next day.

"I said I'm definitely going Economy for Sochi this time. I may have accidentally overspend a bit over the last two months, while it didn't exactly left me in a state of penniless… my bank account figures doesn't look good either. Especially, after I just sponsored Yurio a new laptop for his on-line classes. Can you believe it?! He was using the bulky IBM laptop that runs on Windows XP still?! This is already 2015, I thought the oldest laptop I could find runs on Vista at least… Windows XP is like antique that should belong to the museum. So, I thought since he had made up his mind to continue his education on-line – the least I could do is to sponsor him a new laptop that runs on better ram and processor speed to make his virtual learning easier." Viktor's voice goes from dejected to incredulous and then it took on a smug tone towards the end of his words, sounding proud of the fact that he had bought Yurio a new laptop.

"Okay… so you bought Yurio a new laptop for his studies, what did he have to say in respond to that?" Yuuri questions as he quirk an eyebrow up in response while he voice his query across the phone connection to the Russian.

"He stammers for a bit before relenting but not without informing me flat-out that this is just a loan, and he will repays me the sum of money for the laptop as soon as he could." Viktor responded with a shrug, and an expression that seems to say 'Well…this is Yurio, what do you expect'.

"…" Yuuri took a minute to imagine Yurio's reaction, and shakes his head ruefully after. "Well, it is Yurio… it will be a wonder if he did not insists on paying you back for the laptop. So, I guess the main reason behind you traveling within the ISU allocated budget for Sochi is due to your depleting bank balances? I always did remind you to watch your savings, didn't I?"

"I know… but there's no one around to keep my spending in check now. So, I realized it only after I financed Yurio's new laptop that my monthly payments from the products I'd endorsed over the recent years had yet to come in and I've already spent half of my savings amount accumulated over the years." Viktor sighed out loud as he responded to Yuuri's words.

"Oh well… at least you realized it before you really emptied out all your savings. As for going Economy for Sochi, I'm sure you can survived 3 hours from Saint Petersburg to Sochi. I mean, you did managed to survive all that trips with me on Economy when you took on the role as my coach. Although, you may have upgraded the Economy seats to Business Class seats on some of the longer flights behind my back that is… but at least you didn't have it in you to upgrade us all the way to the first class seats without letting me know in advance." Yuuri commented wryly as he shifted himself on the bed to make himself more comfortable.

"Are you in bed? I thought I heard creaking sound…" Viktor suddenly commented, causing Yuuri to sweat-drop in response.

"Eh? You heard the creaking sound of my bed?! Sheesh, I thought I had my weight under control." Yuuri vowed to increase his work-out level tomorrow morning, maybe he should skip the morning walk for Vic-chan and concentrate on his own jogging instead. He would compensate by bringing Vic-chan out for afternoon walk around the town instead.

"No, it's good that I heard the bed creaking actually… why didn't you tell me it's 2 a.m. already?! You should already be in bed by now, really! I know I get carried away sometimes, but you should have stop me. Just because your mind is not exhausted to the extent that requires you to shut down and sleep, it doesn't mean you should let me keep you up the night either." Viktor lectured Yuuri from his side for a good five minutes, before he took the rare initiative to end the call.

Not a minute later after Viktor hang up on Yuuri, the Asian received a text message from the same Russian man again.

To Yuuri: Forgot to say it just now, good night and sleep well. 333

Yuuri blinked stupidly at the message before he shakes his head with a fond smile and responded in the same way by sending Viktor a good-night message on Whatsapp. Only after did he finally allows himself to fall asleep.

7th December would be the last day Yuuri would be spending in Hasetsu before flying off to Sochi, Russia for the Grand Prix Finals that would be taking place from 10th Dec to 13th Dec 2015. His flight is schedule to leave from Fukuoka Airport the following day, 8th December 2015 morning at 9.50 a.m. Due to the need to arrive at the airport for check-in at least two hours before, he needs to reach the airport by 7.50 a.m. which means he probably need to wake up by 5.30 a.m. to prepare for the trip.

"Do you need me to wake you up tomorrow morning?" Mari suddenly voices out, causing Yuuri to near choke on his morning toast.

"Excuse me? Why would I need you to wake me up?" Yuuri stared at Mari with incredulity as he questions back in return.

"Well… with the way you tends to stay up the night chatting with whoever on the other end of the phone, I thought you might continue the trend tonight as well." Mari shrugged nonchalantly as she spoke while observing slyly from the corner of her eyes on how her brother's face was now turning into a tomato shade of red.

Yuuri took a deep breath to prevent himself from cursing aloud, he really should have known that Mari is not one to sleep early on most days so it really should not surprised him at all that his sister had caught on to his late night conversation with Viktor. Well, the good thing is Mari still had no idea who he was speaking to on the phone over the past three nights.

"Where did Mom and Dad went off to, anyway? It's not like them to leave so early in the day and both at the same time at that." Yuuri then proceeds on to steer the topic of conversation away from his late night phone conversation.

"Ah… they had to attend a local community meeting organized by the town council. I think it is quite obvious that tourism is on a decline here in Hasetsu, the town council is now brainstorming ideas on how to promote tourism in Hasetsu and bring in new life to the town. Mom and Dad figures that it won't hurt to leave us behind to tend to Yu-topia for an hour or two while they join the rest of the business owners in town for that meeting organized by the town council at the local community center." Mari explained matter-of-factly.

"I see, no wonder today's breakfast is just simply toasts and coffee. It's too simple and doesn't seems like something prepared by Mom." Yuuri deadpan as he commented.

"Pardon me for not being in a mood for preparation of a fanciful breakfast, its' not as though we had a lot of guests staying over this weekend either. " Mari throws back a sharp retort at Yuuri's comment, so what if she's lazy to cook for only the two of them? Is there a problem with her being lazy when there's no outsiders around?

"It's fine, though you does sound quite grumpy today. Was it that time of the month for you again?" Yuuri throws out before he hurriedly retreated back to the safety of his room while leaving his elder sister staring after him red in the face and gaping.

"…Who are you and what have you done with my innocent baby brother?" Mari gaped at Yuuri's disappearing figure as she murmurs to no one in particular. A quick glance down at the dining table had Mari yelling Yuuri's name with annoyance rolling off her body in waves. Apparently, Yuuri had left the dishes behind for her to clear.

"Oops, oh well… she will live! Right, Vic-chan?" Yuuri smiles down at his toy poodle fondly receiving a bark of acknowledgement from the puppy trotting beside him happily wagging its' tail.

Pulling out his phone, Yuuri dropped a quick text to Viktor reminding the man not to call him later since he's going to have an early night.

To Viktor: Reminder not to call me today, I am schedule for an early flight to Sochi tomorrow. We can talk in person upon your arrival at Sochi, I assume you would also be staying at Tulip Inn Omega Sochi hotel since accommodation booking is handled by the ISU events planner just like the flights. We can arranged a chance to meet and talk then.

To Yuuri: Thank goodness I saw your message before nodding off… Yes, I am also staying there :D Despite being a 3-star hotel, it's comfy and the food's nice too ^_^ What's more, you are staying there so it's all the more enjoyable for me to stay there :D

To Viktor: Good to know… I'll see you in Sochi then. Now off to bed for you, its' 1 a.m. over at Saint Petersburg, Russia! Good-Night, 333 *kisses*

Later on in the day, after Yuuri is done with his last training session scheduled at Ice-Castle Hasetsu he thanked Tsukishiro Asami once again for her help.

"Like I'd mentioned before, its' not too much of a hassle… it's not as if I'm flying over to Detroit just to oversee your practice for 3 days. This is merely Hasetsu, an hour train journey from Saga City where I'm living now. Besides, this way I get a short getaway trip away from city life without spending much on traveling expenses too." Asami assured Yuuri once again when the man bowed to her with words of thanks tumbling forth three days after her arrival in Hasetsu.

"Still, I would like the chance to thank you properly for it. So, thank you Asami-san!" Yuuri insisted.

Nishigori Yuuko watched the scene with a smile tugging at the corner of her lips, before she placed her hands at her hips warning Yuuri. "If you dared to thank me in such a formal way, I'm black-listing you."

"Never… with you, I'm never formal. Still, thanks for all the help both you and Nishigori has provided me with. So, care to tell me what you have in mind as payment from me?" Yuuri asks raising an eyebrow at Yuuko expectantly.

"A signature from Viktor Nikiforov, so I could have it framed and displayed behind the counter for all to see." Yuuko proclaimed.

"Sure, as long as you don't do the same with my signature I'll be ever grateful." Yuuri commented dryly.

"Nah… I know you won't like it so I won't do it." Yuuko responded waving off Yuuri's dry comment easily enough.

"Yuuri!" Three shouts from the Nishigori Triplets directed Yuuri's way had the Asian man sweat-dropping in response as he shifted his glances down to the kids eye level.

"Yes, Axel, Loop and Lutz… what can I do to help you?" Yuuri asks trying to keep his smile intact as he spoke to the trio.

"Do remember to invite your skater friends over to Hasetsu when the season's over, we are sure tourism will strive once again when words spread of these International skaters visited the humble town of Hasetsu!" The trio was announcing to Yuuri with a 'You better make sure to spread the word' kind of look that has the twenty-three year old Japanese skater sweat-dropping in response.

"Well… I would apologized on their behalf, except that they do have a point in this. If only you would mention a word or two about Hasetsu during your official interview on TV, I'm sure tourism would strives once again. However, seeing as you are not one to do that on media… the least you could do is to spread the word around your competitors and invite them over for a visit during the off-seasons?" Nishigori Takeshi mulls over his girls' words as he said to Yuuri, after a minute of silence.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 4/4/17.


	40. Chapter 40

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 40

On the morning of 8th December 2015, Yuuri woke just before Mari could raise a hand to his room door. Shuffling towards his room door, he slide it open without giving it too much a thought.

"Good morning, no need to yell… I'm up already." Yuuri greeted as he stifled a yawn grabbing his towel as he made his way to the common bathroom down the corridor.

"…Okay, good… breakfast's ready so make sure you don't take too long in the bathroom." Mari reminded before stepping away and headed back downstairs to aid her mother in preparing breakfast for the rest of the guests staying in their onsen ryokan.

Yuuri is aware that he doesn't have much time to spare for a good long bath, so he opted for a quick shower instead. The shower combined with the face-wash freshened his mind up immediately, and he stepped out from the bathroom alert and refreshed to face the long day ahead. Heading back into his room, Yuuri changed from his pajamas into the attire he had picked out the day before for his trip to Sochi, Russia.

Sochi, Russia has a humid subtropical climate with mild winters, its' average temperature during the day is 11 degrees celsius and 4 degrees celsius at night. Hence, Yuuri figured he probably won't be needing his thick winter jacket that is good for minus temperature. Therefore, he chose to wear his Lowry Farm winter jacket that is good for a 4 degrees celsius temperature. He took a minute to decide if he should bring along his thick winter jacket but eventually discard the idea since he knows he would be coming back home after Sochi and not heading straight for Detroit.

A quick look towards the corner of his room tell Yuuri that his beloved poodle is still sleeping soundly, not wanting to have a clingly Vic-chan pawing after his trousers when he left his house later. Yuuri wheeled his packed suitcase out of his room with as little noise level as he could.

Despite knowing its' still too early for Viktor to wake, Yuuri decided to drop the man a reminder message about arranging cab service for both Celestino and himself when they land at Sochi. After which, he sat down to have his last family breakfast with both his parents and elder sister.

"Do remember to stick to the vet's implemented diet for Vic-chan while I'm away, and do not let it runs off by his own when walking him. Please keep him on a leash at all times, I do not wish to have him met any accidents while I'm away competing. You do know how such news will affect me, right?" Yuuri reminded Mari as his elder sister helps him load his suitcase on to the family van that will take him from home to Fukuoka International Airport.

"Yes, yes… I do know. You had mentioned it a lot of times already." Mari responded dryly as she rolls her eyes at Yuuri's worrywart behavior.

When Mari and Yuuri arrived at Fukuoka International Airport, Yuuri was hardly surprised to find Okukawa Minako – his former ballet teacher waiting around for him to show up. Signaling for the former to wait while he hurried to check-in his luggage and collect his ticket from the counter serving China Eastern Airlines passengers. The process of checking in his luggage and collecting his ticket takes about ten to fifteen minutes.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, Minako-sensei." Yuuri greeted the woman after he had completed with all the check-in procedure.

Since the boarding time is 9.50 a.m., and its' only 8.10 a.m. now – they have an hour plus to kill in the airport. Seeing as Minako had yet to eat anything, the duo shifted their conversation area from the waiting area around the check-in counters to a nearby café. Mari, meanwhile, had left the Airport and headed back to Hasetsu.

The elder Katsuki sibling has her own duties to attend to and so could not lingers long at the Airport. Mari's duty is just to drive Yuuri to the Airport, help unload Yuuri's luggage and then hurry back to Hasetsu to help the family business out. Despite the slow business these days, it did not change the underlying fact that both Hiroko and Toshiya Katsuki are getting on their age. Toshiya, especially since he was at least three years older than Hiroko. So, it would not do for the man to stand for pro-longed hours without taking a rest.

"Yuuri, I'll be cheering you on from Japan. As much as I wanted to fly over personally to cheer you on, it's kind of hard for me to do so as I had already promised some acquaintance of mine that I will be a guest instructor for ballet in Tokyo over the next few weeks." Minako was apologizing to Yuuri, and her words draws the day-dreaming Yuuri back into reality.

"Tokyo? Does that means that you would be shutting the doors to your snack bar over the next few weeks?" Yuuri blinked as he voiced his questions across at his former ballet teacher.

"Well… yes, in a nut-shell. I can't possibly split myself into halves – can I?" Minako raised an eyebrow up in question as she responded.

"… Does that means those customers of yours would flood over to Yu-topia over the next few weeks then? Maybe, I should remind Mari to keep an eye on Dad's alcohol intake over the next few weeks… It wouldn't do for him to consume too much alcoholic beverages at his age." Yuuri commented dryly.

Inwardly, Yuuri was musing about the subtle changes around him this time around. He had to admit he was surprise by Minako's words that she will be in Tokyo assisting someone as a guest instructor in ballet because he was certain that it did not happen in his former life. Is this a butterfly effect that he brought along due to his sudden decision to come back home before Sochi? Of course, there would not be anyone answering him on this… he could only mused over the possibility in private.

"Yuuri, what are you thinking about? You keep on zoning out on me… you haven't even touched down in Sochi yet. So, stop dwelling on it lest your anxiety went out of control." Minako snapped suddenly, most likely thinking that Yuuri's lack of response to her words was due to him being stuck in his mind with those anxious thoughts of his. When in actuality, all Yuuri had done was to muse over the differences between the two lives he had led.

"Sorry, I'll try not to get myself lost in my head again. So, is there anyone's signature you wished for me to get on your behalf?" Yuuri asks, changing the topic of conversation straight away to distract Minako from lecturing him.

"Really? You would do that for me?! Aww, damn I forgot to bring the magazine along. I was going to ask you to get that signature from Christophe Giacometti for me." Minako cursed when she realized she did not bring the latest issue of 'Gekkan Pro - Skating' magazine with her.

"Well… no issues, there's always next time." Yuuri sweat-dropped, inwardly thinking that maybe having the Viktor Nikiforov showing up in Hasetsu during off-seasons is a good enough surprise for the former ballerina.

"Wait, next time? You mean you are not thinking about retiring after this season already?" Minako's sudden question reminded Yuuri just what exactly had slipped from his mind since his return to the past.

"…Not at the moment, I might continue for another few seasons before making my final decision on it. I mean twenty-three years old seems too young to retire when Viktor is still active at the age of twenty-seven." Yuuri sweat-dropped as he responded to Minako's question.

"You are now comparing yourself to your all-time idol? Where did you get all that confidence level from? How did I missed these subtle changes in you?" Minako was openly gaping at Yuuri now, and it makes the twenty-three year old figure skater of Japan wishing that he could hide somewhere to escape from Minako's incredulous look.

"Erm… maybe because I now knows that Viktor is also a fan of mine?" Yuuri responded somewhat hesitantly before he hurriedly excuse himself from Minako's presence about needing to start getting ready for his flight and made a bee-line for the departure gate.

Minako, not traveling to anywhere via plane was left gaping at the sight of a fleeing Yuuri unable to follow.

Yuuri sweat-dropped when he received several messages from Okukawa Minako about his cowardly acts, but he chose to ignore them. He kept his phone on until the announcement came on for his boarding, then he turn off the phone completely not even bothering with the switch to airplane mode.

Meanwhile, Viktor hurriedly proceeds on to call up his frequent cab company and arranged for the cab service to pick Yuuri and Celestino up at Sochi Airport after reading the early message from Yuuri. It was good that Yuuri reminded him again because he had nearly forgotten all about it. A quick look at the time reflected on the clock sitting on his bedside table tells Viktor that Yuuri is most likely on his flight over to Moscow by now. Knowing that Yuuri tends to off his phone altogether while traveling on flights, Viktor didn't bother to call and merely drop Yuuri a text message with the cab details.

Yuuri's plane touches down at Sochi Airport exactly on the dot, not a minute delay but the same could not be say for Celestino. His flight ended up landing a five-minute later than expected, and thankfully he had the insight to send Yuuri his flight details so the Asian would not fret over his lack of presence upon the agreed meet-up time.

While waiting for Celestino to make his appearance from the Sochi Airport Arrival Hall, Yuuri already cleared the custom and collected his luggage decided to make his way over to the Mega-Fon service booth and buys his pre-paid sim-card. The person serving him at the booth had some basic grasp of the language English which is good for Yuuri, since it has been some time since Yuuri make use of his knowledge of the language Russian. So, he ended up communicating with the staff serving him using a mixture of English and Russian words.

Once Yuuri switched the sim-card out with the newly bought Mega-Fon sim-card and power on his phone, he received the message detailing the cab booked for them by Viktor on Whatsapp. Sending a quick reply to the Russian that he has safely landed in Sochi, Russia and is now waiting for Celestino to make his presence known… Yuuri also conveyed his wish to see the Russian soon.

To Yuuri: I want to see you too, not for long now… another 14 more hours to go. My flight's morning flight, shall see you tomorrow morning or noon depending on my arrival at the hotel *smiley face*

To Viktor: *smiley face & blushing emoticons* See you in fourteen hours then, and I just saw Celestino heading my way. Talk to you tomorrow in person *smile*

"Ciao Ciao, Yuuri! Thank god the queue at the custom wasn't too long." Celestino commented as he greeted Yuuri with his luggage in tow.

"Well, I hardly think Russia in general is a popular choice for holiday unless the tourists visiting the country knows the language of Russian to some extent or they were here on business. That, or they were fans of Figure-Skating and would not want to miss seeing the Grand Prix Finals live in person – else I don't think there would be a lot of foreigners visiting Sochi at this time of the year." Yuuri responded in a matter-of-fact tone, he knew from personal experience that custom clearance is usually efficient for native travelers. It is only when it comes down to foreigner that the efficiency rate falls, either due to language barriers or that the custom officers are more cautious when it comes down to foreigner traveler.

"Anyway, do you have any idea where I could get a functional sim-card for my phone? I just realized I couldn't get a network on my phone." Celestino frowned, he was hoping he could use the GPS system to help his navigation around the area but if he could not get a functional sim-card that covers Sochi area then… his plans on finding places to eat that is not within the hotel would be busted.

"You can get the Mega-Fon around the world prepaid plan from that service booth over there, they are the most stable mobile network provider in Sochi. You would need your passport and hotel's address to buy the sim-card and the staff knows basic English so I think so long you don't speak too fast, they can help you easily." Yuuri kindly suggested for the Italian coach to visit the same booth he visited a while ago.

It might be a good thing for them to arrive at Sochi earlier than the rest of the competitors and coaches for the Sochi GPF because this meant that the queue over at the Mega-Fon service booth isn't too long and hence they could managed to get Celestino's sim-card issue settled quick enough to not hold up the cab driver's time any longer than necessary.

From Viktor's message to Yuuri, the Asian knows that the rate for the Airport transport to the Hotel is on a flat rate. Upon arrival at the hotel, Yuuri paid the man with his the rubles currency on hand which he had exchanged for in Fukuoka International Airport. The minute they entered the hotel, Yuuri handed the baton of communicating with hotel staff back to Celestino again. He figured most hotel staff have at least a basic grasp of the language English, and so Celestino would have no problem communicating with them.

"Yuuri, you should have let me paid for the cab just now." Celestino was saying as they entered the hotel.

"It's fine, I wasn't certain if the cab took cards as payment or not. Besides, I don't even knows if you have spare cash on you. I pretty much sees you pay in cards all the time, so I figured its' better to play safe hence I paid for the cab just now." Yuuri responded to Celestino wearily, waving off the issue off-handedly.

While Celestino is checking in over the hotel counter, Yuuri help the man to set up his phone after installing the Mega-Fon sim-card into the spare card slot on Celestino's dual sim mobile phone. He handed the phone back to his Italian-American coach at the same time as the man handed him his room access card key. The duo then turn down the staff help in bringing their luggage up by choosing to do it themselves. They bid one another a good-night before entering their respective room and promptly slept like the dead.

Both Yuuri and Celestino were completely exhausted from their long flight to Sochi, Russia and were both immensely grateful that Phichit was nowhere around. Else, the hyperactive Thai skater might suggest exploring the town instead of allowing them to sleep off their jet-lag.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 5/4/17.


	41. Chapter 41

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 41

Viktor Nikiforov was so excited at the prospect of seeing Yuuri that he could hardly sit still in his seat during the flight from Saint Petersburg to Sochi, Russia.

"Oi, Old Man! Can you stop doing that?" Yuri Plisetsky, whom was sitting by Viktor's side during the flight hissed at the silver-haired Russian man in irritation.

"Huh? Stop doing what?" Viktor blinked innocently as he asks.

"That annoying tapping thing with your shoe! I get that you are excite but could you please tone it down a bit?" Yuri Plisetsky hissed back in return, he wanted to yell but the idea of doing that aboard a plane could be disastrous so he restrain his instincts to yell and chose a milder way to express his displeasure towards the older man's antic instead.

Yakov Feltsman was suddenly very grateful that he had not taken the seat next to Viktor or he might have the rest of his hairs falling off before they even reach Sochi. Granted, sitting next to Mila Babicheva is not that great of an idea after all. If Viktor is bouncing in his seat like a three-year old kid on sugar high, Mila is so chatty that Yakov almost wish he had a set of ear plug available to block out the sound of Mila's constant chatters.

"Yakov, do you think we can go around sight-seeing after landing?" Mila suddenly directed her question at Yakov, jolting the old coach out from his thoughts.

"We shall see after we landed." Yakov made no promises although he just might agree to get his problematic protégé to leave him in peace.

Almost immediately after their plane touches down, Viktor Nikiforov has his phone out in his hands and the airplane mode deactivated eagerly sending off a message.

"Sheesh, can't you wait until you are actually off the plane before texting anyone? Speaking of, since you are standing there – might as well help me retrieve my carry-on suitcase from that overhead cabinet above your head." Yuri Plisetsky rolls his eyes as he commented to the hyper-active twenty-seven year old.

"Oh… sure! Seriously, was that all you bring along for the trip?" Viktor eyed the 10 inches suitcase of Yurio with a funny gaze that have the blond teen skater rolling his eyes again.

"Excuse me, you think a suitcase this big is not enough to hold all the things I would need for a four days event? Seriously, I should ask if you are sane… for a four days event you actually tow along two 20 inches standard size checked-in baggage. I seriously think you are the one in need of a reality check. What on earth did you bring along for the event anyway? Aside from the skating gears and three sets of costume needed for your program, and the one set of formal suit for the banquet after? No, you know what… don't tell me – I changed my mind." Yuri Plisetsky responded after a minute of silence, he really should not have ask that question because now the man had a high chance of babbling to him what exactly was store in those two checked-in baggage of his.

"Well… the skating gears and costumes goes into one of them, and the other consists of my personal belongings and clothes I would need for the period?" Viktor responded still eyeing Yurio's carry-on baggage with wonder lurking in the depths of his eyes.

"…Figures you would try to bring a whole week of wardrobe choices along for a four days event. Why bother bringing things that hotels already provided, I can never understand this little habit of yours." Yuri Plisetsky rolls his eyes as he took his carry-on baggage from Viktor and heading his way for the exit of the plane.

"Oh… Yurio, nothing the hotel provided is as comfortable as what you personally owned! Seriously, if it wasn't because of Yakov's insistence I would have insists upon shipping my bed along for the trip too." Viktor commented so honestly that nearly sends the fifteen-year old blond stumbling.

"WHAT THE HECK?! Thank god Yakov stopped you in time!" Yuri Plisetsky was now staring at Viktor with a look of complete incredulity, this is the first time he ever heard someone commenting about wanting to ship their own bed along for a four days event trip.

"Erm… okay, maybe I did exaggerated a little? I wasn't contemplating it for this trip, but the thought does crosses my mind every now and then for longer trips?" Viktor started sheepishly as he told the gaping teen.

"Stop! I don't need to understand your reasonings, really I don't. So, stop explaining them to me." Yuri Plisetsky gritted out as he stalked his way towards the available custom clearance counter, not wanting to deal with Viktor's idiocy any longer.

With that Yuri Plisetsky proceeds on to ignore Viktor for the rest of their trip from Sochi Airport to the hotel. Viktor, while disappointed at being ignored by Yurio could not stay disheartened for long as he knows his beloved Yuuri is waiting to see him at the hotel. Hence, the dejected look at being ignored by Yurio was quickly wiped off his face and replaced by a grinning look.

Upon the Russian Team arrival at the hotel, Viktor beamed upon the sight of Yuuri whom is obviously waiting for him in the lobby of the hotel. Almost immediately, the twenty-seven year old Russian skater made a beeline for Yuuri and if it wasn't for Celestino's quick thinking to step in front of Yuuri effectively putting a stop to Viktor's brainless act – the entire crowd that hangs around the lobby of Tulip Inn Omega Sochi Hotel would be treated to the sight of Viktor Nikiforov clinging to the Japanese Skater by the name of Yuuri Katsuki.

It took Viktor all his inner control to stop his pout from forming on his lips, and regain his ability to think logically again.

"Yuuri, it's so good to see you here. I've been wanting to skate on the same ice as you for ages." Viktor Nikiforov beams, playing the role of Yuuri's number one fan effortlessly.

Yuuri Katsuki, however, was taking in the scene with amusement dancing in his eyes. It looks like Viktor really knows how to act in public, but the way Viktor is playing the role of his number 1 fan somehow reminded him of a particular teen by the name of Minami Kenjiro. Yuuri briefly wonders if the inability to gush sweet nothings to him causes the silver-haired Russian to imitate Minami Kenjiro's idolizing acts instead.

Although Yuuri is very amused by the way Viktor is acting now, he still wasn't that thick-skinned to not falter when so many pairs of eyes were on him. Hence, eventually he stepped forth and said.

"Alright, that's enough. I think you had made your point." Yuuri interjected, stopping Viktor from sprouting words of admiration towards him with a faint blush tainting his cheeks.

Upon Yuuri's words, Viktor stopped talking immediately and took to the act of flashing Yuuri a heart-throbbing grin that nearly causes Yuuri to melt to a puddle on the spot. Thankfully, Yuuri had enough sense to not react instinctively to Viktor's acts by now.

"So, this is the Yuuri Katsuki that has our resident gold medalist completely besotted eh?" Mila Babicheva took hold of the opportunity to approach Yuuri as she sized the Asian up with her eyes.

"Besotted?" Yuuri repeated sounding somewhat incredulous as he inwardly wonders what on earth did Viktor do in Russia, that has Mila react in such a way?

"Besotted, smitten… whatever you calls it. Do you know he has your posters pinned up in his locker door at our home rink? I wouldn't be surprise if he owns mugs and calendar that is customize after you lying around somewhere in his flat." Mila commented glancing at Viktor from the corner of her eyes as she told Yuuri.

Yuuri's eyebrow shot up another notch if it was even possible, while Viktor started sweating nervously as he flicked his eyes about the surrounding trying to find somewhere to hide in-case Yuuri tore into him after.

"Viktor…please tells me she is joking." Yuuri started softly but there was an underlying hint of steel lurking in his soft tone voice adopted.

"Erm… I may or may not have ordered a few customized mugs imprinted with your pictures on-line." Viktor eventually throws out in a rush before excusing himself from Yuuri's sight claiming that he wants to go say 'hi' to the newly arrived Christophe Giacometti.

Yuuri took several deep breath to keep his temper under control, it would not do for him to blow up in public yelling the Russian's name as he berated the man about wasting money unnecessarily. Deciding to file away the knowledge for later, Yuuri turned towards Mila Babicheva and did a self-introduction.

"Hi, I'm Yuuri Katsuki representing Japan for the first time in the Grand Prix Finals." Yuuri hold out his hands as he introduced himself in a formal way.

"Hi there, adorable. I'm Mila Babicheva of Team Russia, a rink-mate of Viktor's. This is Yuri Plisetsky, the favorite junior of Viktor's. Do you know Viktor enjoy playing 'Daddy' to dear Yuri down here? Oh, and before I forgot – that old man over there trying to pretend not knowing us is our coach – Yakov Feltsman." Mila took it upon herself to introduce everyone on her team to Yuuri, causing the Asian skater to sweat-drop in response.

"Shut it, Old Hag! Don't go around sprouting unnecessary stuff! Also, I don't need you to introduce me – I can do it myself!" Yuri Plisetsky protested as he tried to shrug off the woman's grasp on his shoulder but to no avail.

"Two person going by the same name pronunciation could be a hassle, I seconded Viktor's opinion that from now on – you shall be Yurio." Mila then turned towards Yuri Plisetsky and declared causing the blond teen to go on a rampaging mouth again.

"Hah? What the? If anyone needs a nickname its' this pig here, why am I the one dubbed with the nickname again?" Yurio protested vehemently as he started gesturing wildly at Yuuri while snarling at Mila in his native tongue thinking that Yuuri would not understand his calling the Japanese skater a pig.

Unfortunately for Yuri Plisetsky though, Yuuri do understand Russian while it wasn't very good – simple things like 'pig' still stands out to Yuuri enough for the Asian to know that he is the main topic of discussion between the Russian skater duo.

"If you really wish to call me something else aside from my name, I would very much prefer it as Katsudon instead of the word 'Pig'." Yuuri suddenly interjected, causing both Mila and Yurio to turn startling wide eyes to him.

"You… can understand Russian?" Both Mila and Yurio are gaping now, and Yurio flushes a shade of red for a minute before schooling it back into his usual frowning look.

"Just some basics, but judging from the way Yurio is waving his hands at me and arguing with the word 'pig' repeatedly being mentioned… I can gleam enough to know he's referring to me?" Yuuri cocked his head slightly to the side as he wait for the duo's clarification.

Mila laughed awkwardly for a while before waving off Yuuri's concern by claiming that Yurio didn't mean it in a degrading way, the teen is just upset about having to endure being addressed by a nickname and not his given name.

"What's Katsudon?" Yurio then asks Yuuri, staring up at the Asian with mild curiosity.

"Katsudon is a kind of food from Japan, basically it means Pork-Cutlet Rice. My mom made the best Katsudon in the Kyushu area, you really should give it a try if you have the chance." Yuuri smiles warmly at Yurio, causing the teen to avoid his glance almost immediately.

Yuuri doesn't mind Yurio's avoidance acts, he knew the teen is just uncomfortable. He left the teen alone for the remaining of the conversation, concentrating on giving Mila's advice on when is the best season to visit Japan for a holiday and where are the places that she definitely must visit upon arrival in Japan.

On the other side of the hotel lobby, Viktor was glancing towards where Yuuri stood with his rink-mates with a pining expression on his face. He wanted very much to go over and join them in their conversation, but his logic was blaring warning alarms at the sheer thought of it. Who knows what else Mila had told Yuuri about his spending habits…

"… Why are you here when you obviously wishes to stay there instead?" Christophe Giacometti raised an eyebrow up in question, as he took in Viktor's pining look while hanging out with him.

"Erm… Mila's probably betraying all my secrets to Yuuri, and I don't want to stay there for it?" Viktor responded sounding a little stupidly, as he continue darting glances towards Yuuri's direction.

The Japanese Yuuri might be oblivious to all those pining glances directed his way since he was back-facing Viktor, but the Russian Yuri was not that oblivious to it. His glances flickers between the Japanese Yuuri and the resident idiot of his team before he sigh and interrupted Mila's words.

"I think Yakov's done with the check-in, we should probably go over and collect our card-keys. We can continue the conversation later… the Grand Prix Finals event doesn't starts until tomorrow anyway." Yurio muttered aloud before stalking his way past both Yuuri and Mila, purposely pushing past the still pining Viktor and headed towards the impatiently waiting figure of Yakov Feltsman.

Yuuri looks at the dejected figure of Viktor Nikiforov and sighed inwardly, pulling out his phone – he dropped a quick message to the said man.

To Viktor: Stop looking so dejected… I'm not mad at you, really. If I get mad over every little things that you spend your money on, I would be as grumpy as Yakov by now. Although, I should insist on you to stop spending money on unnecessary things. Anyway, want to join me for lunch later?

To Yuuri: *hopeful look* really? You're not going to yell at me about wasting money? Yes, I would love to join you for lunch later! Are we dining alone?

To Viktor: *roll eyes* I don't believe I have the right to yell at you about wasting money YET. We are not married in this frame of time, you know? So, your money is your money… you had the right to spend them in a way you see fit. I have no say over it from the legal point of view. No, we are not dining alone. Celestino would be chaperoning, he says he don't want to risk a scandal breaking out between us now. So, you can bring along Yurio if you wants to… don't deny it, I know you want to.

To Yuuri: *Grin* Right, so where shall we meet later?

To Viktor: We meet in the lobby in 15 minute?

To Yuuri: Okay, see you in 15 minute. *Wink*

Yuuri shakes his head when he looked back up from his phone to find the silver-haired Russian man no longer looking dejected and is now making his way towards the blond teen, most likely trying to invite the blond to join them on their lunch trip.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 7/4/17.


	42. Chapter 42

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters featured

Chapter 42

Lunch was at Restaurant Parterre that was within the hotel building itself, dining at the restaurant was a suggestion made by Yuuri. Partly because he did not want to accidentally let it slips to Celestino that he knows how to speak Russian, it was one thing being able to understand basic Russian but totally another when it comes down to being able to speak the language. At least for a restaurant within the hotel, the staff must have gotten the grasp of some basic English knowledge and hence minimizing the chance for Yuuri to slip up in front of Celestino. That, and Yuuri thinks Celestino is still feeling boggled mind by the lack of English speaking natives out in the streets following their earlier walk around the area so its' better not to give the Italian American coach another wave of culture shock so soon.

"Ah… the Restaurant Parterre, well… I guess it is kind of expected since its' Katsudon that picks the place for lunch." Yurio commented when the group of four were led towards an empty table by the restaurant staff.

"Katsudon?" Viktor blinked, what did he missed? When did Yurio changed his way of addressing Yuuri? How did he not know?

"Well, I may have accidentally called him a 'pig' while arguing with Mila just now… and he said if I really had to call him something aside from his name, he would prefer Katsudon over 'pig'." Yurio mumbled under his breath as he responded to Viktor's query.

"Oh…" Viktor then made a knowing sound, it must have happened earlier on when he was with Chris since he failed to catch anything when he was still standing with Yuuri.

Restaurant Parterre is the buffet restaurant of Tulip Inn Omega Sochi hotel, it operates on a daily basis and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner to the guests staying in the hotel. Members of the public may choose to patron the restaurant as well, but they would have to make reservation before coming by since the restaurant is mostly packed with hotel guests.

Since the meals were served in a buffet style setting, there wasn't much to consider. All of them took turns leaving the table to get their own ideal food and drinks from the food and beverages catering table counters lined along the side of the restaurant.

"Yuuri, you can have this." Viktor said as he return to their table and handed Yuuri a plate of food.

"…Thank you but I could just get them myself afterward." Yuuri started pointing out to Viktor that the former don't really have to do this for him.

"Well, you did mention you would give Russian cuisine a try before when we speak… I'm just thinking that there you might chicken out on it if you were the one choosing the food." Viktor responded easily but his eyes was conveying a different message altogether at Yuuri.

The verbal response is more of an excuse for Celestino, in actuality Viktor simply wish to save Yuuri the hassle of moving. Yuuri, obviously caught on to the underlying message from his eye-contact with Viktor and let the matter drop after a minute of silent contemplation. After all, this is just a trivial issue so he don't see any point arguing with Viktor over it.

"Since when did you switch your job from a professional figure skater to a waiter?" Yuri Plisetsky started when the second time around Viktor came back from the buffet catering table, he placed the second plate of food collected in front of the fifteen-year old.

"Yurio, I'm just doing you a favor and effectively cutting down the time you would dally out there because you always hesitate on what food to get when choices were abundance. You can return the favor by sharing with me those pirozhki that your grandfather made for you, the next time around." Viktor responded matter-of-factly before he went off for his third queue for food, and this time for his own appetite.

Viktor was queuing in line when he felt someone slinging an arm over his shoulder, a quick glance to the side he found the owner of the arm around his shoulder easily.

"Chris." Viktor greeted jovially.

"Didn't know you had it in you to play waiter… how about helping me with mine as well?" Chris asks waving his empty plate in front of Viktor as he said in a teasing way.

"Haha, very funny. You can get your own food." Viktor deadpan as he responded to Chris' suggestion.

"Easy there… I'm just kidding with you. Still, Yuuri I would understand… what's with your obvious pining over him, but Plisetsky too?" Chris raised an eyebrow at Viktor as he voiced his query across.

"…I'm just playing the part of a helpful senior to a junior, is there a problem for it?" Viktor throws the question back at Chris blankly.

"No… not really." Chris shrugged as he answers, chatting with Viktor as they waited in line for their turn to come around.

Meanwhile, back at the table – Celestino was concentrating on his share of food while Yuuri tried to engage Yurio in a conversation.

"Viktor mention that you are going to continue your studies through on-line programs, have you thought about what kind of programs you are going to enroll in yet?" Yuuri asks Yurio, drawing the teen attention away from the dessert table.

"Huh?" There was a minute of delay as Yurio snapped his eyes from the dessert table away and back to the speaking Yuuri, a blink as he recalls the question before a look of exasperation crosses the teen's face. "Sheesh, is there anything that the old man doesn't tells you at all?"

Amused by Yurio's reaction, Yuuri smiled a small smile and says. "I doubt it, he had trouble keeping things under wrap for too long. I'm surprised he hasn't tried announcing his undying devotion to me on media platforms thus far."

"…You can thanked Yakov for it." Yurio rolls his eyes then and commented without much of an explanation.

"I will, when I get the chance to speak with Mr. Feltsman." Yuuri nodded to Yurio's words, he figured Viktor must have tried at some point or another but the old coach is there to keep the impulsive Russian from such acts.

There was a minute of silence as the two of them works on ingesting their food, before Yuuri decided to broach the subject of Yurio's on-line education again. This time around, the blond teen sigh in response.

"No, I haven't really start searching… I still have about five months of high school education left for the year."

For a while Yuuri was silent, he was busy trying to recall the academic calendar in Russia before he finally recalls the little piece of information he had read from Wikipedia before about how Russian school term usually ends in May. Now is December which fits Yurio's saying that he still have about 5 months of high school education left before he could move on to his on-line learning programs.

"Even if that is the case, it's better to start researching on the possible courses to take before the time actually approaches. I have a few distance learning websites available that you could look it over and decide which pathway you wants to go when the time comes for you to make your decision. I will send the link to Viktor later, and have him send them to you." Yuuri could sense that Yurio do not wish to continue this topic of conversation with him, so after saying that he will send the links of the websites to Viktor – Yuuri drop the topic of Yurio's further education completely for the rest of the lunch period.

When Viktor return with his own food plate in hand, the table was engulf in dead silence. The trio was focusing fully on their own food, a complete opposite of what he had seen while queuing for the buffet.

"Did I miss anything?" Viktor asks as he flashes a bright grin towards both Yuuri and Yurio.

"Not really."

"No."

Yuuri and Yurio responded in unison, causing Viktor to raise an eyebrow up in skepticism. Yuuri rolls his eyes at Viktor's reaction before elaborating. "Seriously, you did not miss anything... we just ran out of conversation topics is all." 

"Oh..." Viktor made a knowing sound before settling himself on the seat next to Yuuri, reaching for the Asian's hand under the table hidden from most people's sight.

Viktor's grin widen when Yuuri's hand grasp his back in return, although their hands-holding act were hidden from sight... it still did not fool Yurio and Celestino in the slightest. Yurio, apparently could not bothers with it any longer and hence merely sigh after rolling his eyes for the umpteen times since the start of the day. Celestino, however, pinched the bridge of his nose in weariness. Thank god Yuuri's discreet enough for the two of them; still... he supposed a talk with Yakov Feltsman is in order.

"So, Yurio... are you ready for your short program tomorrow?" Viktor asks breaking the silence once again.

"Well...duh... of course, I am ready for it. Who do you think you're asking anyway?" Yurio muttered something about Viktor asking redundant question but still obliged to answer the man lest the idiot does something idiotic again such as wailing that he was ignoring him on purpose or something.

"I still think your spins could do a lot more improvement..." Viktor commented, causing the blond to snort in response.

"I would refine it if you can perfect your own steps sequence for your program." Yurio retaliate without hesitation.

"..." Viktor fell silent, he could try but he knows his steps will never be as beautiful as what Yuuri is capable of doing. Unlike Yuuri, who is a dancer before a skater... he was the complete opposite. He focused too much of his attention on perfecting his jumps during his younger years and neglected his training under Lilia back then.

A buzz of his phone signal the incoming of a message, a quick look at the message had him smiling again. The message is from Yuuri, who had assured him that his steps sequence were beautiful enough since he was the one whom had inspired Yuuri to take up figure skating in the first place.

To Viktor: Its' fine, your steps are alright. They are beautiful enough to the audiences' point of view, even if it weren't up to your own standards. I am sure you can perfect them with time, maybe we could work on it together after the worlds during the off-season?

To Yuuri: Are you inviting me to Hasetsu then?

To Viktor: Well...duh, of course I am inviting you over. This time, I am doing it somber even. So, would you like to visit Hasetsu after the World Championships?

To Yuuri: Sure, I'll love to! Am I the only one invited?

To Viktor: Yurio's invited as well, if he wants to come.

"..." Yurio mouth twitches several times when he noticed how the duo were holding hands under the table hidden from sight and at the same time using text messages to communicate with their other free hand. "Seriously, the two of you are sitting right next to one another. Is there really a need to talk using messages?"

"..." Both Yuuri and Viktor looked up at one another just then and less than a minute later they burst into laughter in unison. "We kind of forgot about that."

"Seriously, idiots... the both of you are! I'm done, so I'm leaving." Yurio rolls his eyes as he dabbed his mouth with the napkin provided at the table for guests' use before making a move to stand and leave the restaurant.

"No, Yurio... we should go sight-seeing." Viktor wailed only to have Yurio shaking off his reach with a huff of irritation.

"Unlike you, my program is tomorrow afternoon. So I need to go back to my room and rest up for tomorrow's program. If you want to go sight-seeing, I suggest you go and ask Mila instead. She has been yapping on about wanting to do that since the flight." Yurio gritted out at Viktor with unhidden annoyance creeping into his tone.

"Go ahead and rest for your program tomorrow." Yuuri cuts in then, effectively stopping Viktor from pestering the irate blond further.

"Yuuri..." Viktor turn towards Yuuri with wide pleading eyes as he expresses his wish to go sight-seeing around the town.

"...Fine, we will go sight-seeing... that is if Celestino is okay with it?" Yuuri shifted his questioning glance to Celestino just then seeking the Italian-American man's permission.

"Sure, I need a walk to help with the digestion as well." Celestino agreed easily enough, still unwilling to let the duo wander out in the streets without supervision.

~to be continued~

Date completed: 8/4/17.


	43. Chapter 43

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters

Chapter 43

Despite agreeing to the idea of going sight-seeing with Viktor, Yuuri insists on staying around the area. Not that Yuuri wasn't feeling up for an adventure but the truth is tomorrow will be the start of the Grand Prix Final event, and although the seniors short program would not be happening until after the official opening ceremony which is taking place at 7 p.m. Yuuri still wants to conserve his energy hence his insistence on not going too far out for sight-seeing.

"Well… if we have to stick to the area, the only few places I could think of is to explore the Olympic park by itself." Viktor sigh eventually giving in to Yuuri's logic, he too, doesn't want Yuuri to over-tax and ends up under-performing during tomorrow's program.

"Then explore the park we shall do." Yuuri nodded to Viktor's suggestion, he wasn't sure about Viktor but him, for one actually wants to see the park with his own eyes. He had heard tales and seen the pictures on-line before but he had never seen them with his own pair of eyes. The last time around when he competes in the Sochi GPF, he was too anxious to really pay any attention to his surroundings. This time around, he would be damn if he allows his anxiety to distract him from admiring the beautiful scenery of the Olympic park again.

Although, the Olympic park basically is just a park full of facilities built initially for the 2014 Winter Olympics – the building itself were a sight. So, it really wasn't that much of a wonder for Viktor to start roping Yuuri in for selfies with the buildings as their background.

"Don't post anything on your instagram without letting me go through the pictures first." Yuuri warned, knowing full well that he could not stop the Russian from posting on social media. However, he could still vet through the pictures which the Russian had it in mind to post first and remove any pictures which he deems unsuitable for posting. By unsuitable, it refers to pictures that feature them in a more intimate behavior.

"But Yuuri~~~ those are the pictures I like best…" Viktor said pouting as Yuuri denied him the right to post a few of the pictures on a more intimate setting.

"I know… I like them as well but remember what I said about not wanting a scandal before the Grand Prix Final even starts? Besides, have you forgotten something?" Yuuri sigh out loud as he reminded the silver-haired Russian man.

"Huh?" Viktor blinked uncomprehendingly at Yuuri, apparently not catching on to Yuuri's underlying meaning.

"…Viktor, this is Russia. Have you forgotten how conservative the society is at Russia in general?" Yuuri pressed a hand to the side of his temples, suddenly feeling sorry for Viktor's coach… if this was what the man has to put up on regular basis, no wonder the old coach keeps saying that Viktor is the cause of his hair-fall.

Upon Yuuri's blatant reminder, Viktor finally remembered the reason behind his insistence for them to move to Hasetsu after his official retirement. They were after all, only staying in Saint Petersburg for Viktor's sake – since they cannot expect Yakov to move to Hasetsu for Viktor, so it falls to them to shift over to Saint Petersburg when Viktor decides to go back to competitive skating.

"Oh… I forgot." Viktor murmured about recalling how conservative his birth country was, and for a while wonders if his actions earlier would bring Yuuri unnecessary attention from the public.

"Its fine, what you did just now wasn't so bad. With the way I acted just now, all it would appear to the public is something that reminds them of someone dragging an unwilling person for the ride. At least, you still had the sense of not attempting to place a kiss on me in public…" Yuuri sighed out loud as he reassured Viktor that there wasn't any harm done.

"I can't believe I forgot about that…" Viktor is still moping after Yuuri's comforting words, to which Yuuri could only sweat-dropped at the sight. It took Yuuri a while, but the Asian finally landed his eyes on a booth selling ice-cream. Thinking that perhaps a treat could snapped Viktor out from the moping, Yuuri left the Russian where he is and instructed Celestino to keep an eye on the moping idiot before he made his way over to the ice-cream booth.

Ten minutes later, Yuuri returned to where Celestino and Viktor was and handed Celestino a cone before going over to Viktor with the other ice-cream cone in hand. Yuuri did not bother to get one for himself, due to his slow metabolism rate. Besides, he wasn't that much of a sweet addict like Yurio.

"Here, there you go. A ice-cream treat from me, could you please stop your moping already?" Yuuri purposely squatted down so he could look into the Russian's eyes as he made his requests.

Viktor's eyes brighten at the sight of the ice-cream cone, and it's one of his favorite flavors. Suddenly, he felt a load better in his mood and it looks like he wasn't the only one that remembers little things about Yuuri. It seems like Yuuri do knows his preferences as well, and for a while he almost wanted to hug Yuuri but the stern gaze in Yuuri's eyes reminded him that they were still in public and under Celestino's supervision hence he settles for his trademark heart-shaped smile instead.

After the ice-cream treat from Yuuri, the group of trio went back to the hotel to rest and prepare for tomorrow's event. Viktor posted about his sight-seeing trip around the Olympic park with Yuuri first, and a few hours later Yuuri updated his own instagram account with the trip but his uploaded pictures involves his poor neglected coach – Celestino.

Yuuri_K

[Image]

Yuuri_K Kudos to Celestino for his tolerance of Viktor's quirks during the outing.

Far away in Detroit, Michigan of United States of America – Phichit whom was taking a break from his acting rehearsal session for the musical nearly chokes on his water when he landed his eyes on Yuuri's instagram updates. Before he could stop his own hands, Phichit was already typing a response to Yuuri under the post.

Phichit+chu: What the hell was Ciao Ciao doing on an outing between the two of you anyway?

Yuuri_K: Playing Chaperon. *sweat-drop*

Phichit+chu: Chaperon…*sweat-drop* well, at least it wasn't coach Feltsman…?

Yuuri_K: I think if Yakov is the one playing chaperon, Viktor would have try to involve the man in every pictures he tries to snap of us on the sight-seeing trip. Although, I don't know whether that is a good thing or not… Celestino seems quite willing being ignored on the trip at most of the time.

Phichit+chu: Since when did you took up to addressing Coach Feltsman by his given name? *curious*

Yuuri_K: Nope, I only typed Yakov because the spelling is shorter than Feltsman… I don't call him by his given name in his presence.

Phichit+chu: Oh well… either way, good luck for tomorrow's SP… *insert crying look* Break's over, back to the taxing rehearsal session I go…

Yuuri laughed at the crying emoticons sends his way by Phichit on instagram, then again he supposed he could understand it. The members on the directing team of the musical could be a slave driver in essence, so it could get tedious for the casts members every once in a while. Thank god, his involvement is only the dance choreography part which he's done with… the training part would be handled by the professional trainer – Coach Flores of Detroit Skating Club. So long his choreography is put into use by the musical, doesn't matter how much of the dance segment it actually took up – he will still gets his grades for the choreography part of the project.

When dinner time comes around, Viktor invited Yuuri to his room for a quiet and private room-service dinner meet-up. The minute the door leading to Viktor's room was pull open, Yuuri found himself being dragged into the room and then trapped in Viktor's embrace.

"Viktor?" Yuuri started, but was silence by a deep kiss on his lips from the Russian.

They remained unmoving in their kissing acts for some time, until both felt the need for air before pulling apart. Yuuri flushes a deep shade of crimson when their eyes landed on one another, stepping out and away from Viktor's embrace – Yuuri fled to the attached bathroom and locked himself in it splashing cold water on to his face for some time trying to cool down his flaming red cheeks.

While Yuuri was in the bathroom trying to cool down his flaming cheeks, Viktor was grinning like an idiot. The feeling of kissing Yuuri after being separated for so long was so fulfilling, and the way Yuuri had felt right in his arms… gods, how he wish he could ravish the Asian right there and then. However, he knew that wasn't wise… maybe, after the banquet would be better?

Speaking of the banquet, he wonders if the banquet this time around would be as happening as the one the last time around where Yuuri was drunk. Perhaps, he should try getting Yuuri drunk so Yuuri could challenge Yurio and Chris into a dance-off? Gods, he missed those pictures… The only one regret he has about coming back in time is the lack of those pictures from the Sochi GPF Banquet…

When Yuuri finally reappeared in front of Viktor, the flaming red cheeks were gone though there is still a faint tinge of pink in the Asian's cheeks.

"We should eat before the food gets cold…" Yuuri started gesturing to the two food trays that sits innocently on the desk of Viktor's hotel room in a flustered way.

"Yes, I agree… we should eat first." Viktor nodded along to Yuuri's suggestion, inviting Yuuri over to have their dinner in private was his first motive. Somehow, when he answered his room door and found Yuuri standing there innocently – he couldn't help not pulling the man into his arms and started kissing his favorite person in the world.

Impulsive by nature, Viktor had done exactly that and now the thought of their earlier kiss was enough to cause a hard-on reaction from his pants. Unfortunately, due to their respective performances later on tomorrow… Viktor had to settle that little problem by his own hands after Yuuri's departure from his room.

Silence stung the air as they took their dinner with the two of them both deep in their own thoughts, and as soon as the meal was finish. Yuuri flees from Viktor's room and rushes back to his own room leaving behind Viktor to deal with the 'aftermath' of their passionate kiss. While Yuuri wasn't exactly spotting a hard-on in his pants, he was feeling the urge to crawl under his duvet and hides in embarrassment. While he felt bad about leaving Viktor alone to deal with his little problem, Yuuri could not finds it in him to linger on behind as well.

Later that night, Yuuri ended up not sleeping much at all. Not because of the anxiety rearing its' head but more because of the wet dreams that wouldn't leave him alone to sleep in peace. Thus, the next morning found him with both his eyes looking blood-shot and heavily sleep deprived.

"Wow… Yuuri, what happened? Bad dreams keeping you up?" Celestino questions when Yuuri met him at the restaurant for breakfast the following day.

"…Yes, well… dreams kept me up half the night but don't worry it did not triggers my anxiety." Yuuri reassured Celestino, he did not object to the coach's assumption about his having bad dreams… after all, he can't possibly tells the man that he was kept up the night by wet dreams that involves Viktor Nikiforov, could he?

"Do you need a nap? If you do, we can fit in time for one after the practice session at the rink. I'll wake you up in time for the opening ceremony later." Celestino was suggesting to Yuuri.

"No, it's fine. I don't need a nap; I doubt I could sleep much before a competition anyway." Yuuri shrugged, he had survived enough time running on sleep-deprived mode before a competition so he highly doubt this time would be any different.

"Well… if you say so, but just try not to let your sleep deprived state affects your skating later." Celestino reminded Yuuri as he sips away at his coffee.

Yuuri said nothing but nodded in response. The sight of Team Russian coming in for breakfast causes Yuuri's eyes to widen and then promptly ducked his head down to avoid any eye contact with Viktor.

"Oh my god, what did you do to the poor man? Why is he avoiding eye-contact with you?" Mila Babicheva whom had caught on to Yuuri's actions suddenly turned towards Viktor with accusing gaze.

"…I did nothing." Viktor gritted out at Mila with annoyance, he knows why Yuuri had avoid looking at him though. The Asian is probably still embarrassed about yesterday's dinner session… and is obviously having a hard time meeting his eyes.

Pulling his phone out, Viktor dropped a message to Yuuri as he apologized for making the Asian uncomfortable.

To Viktor: No, it's alright. I'm just embarrassed… and maybe also a little anxious about my program later?

To Yuuri: I know… but why feeling anxious about your performance later? It's not your first time skating in front of me; you did it once in Skate America already.

To Viktor: *roll eyes* I know… but having you watching me in the spectator stand and by the rink side as a fellow competitor is two different scenarios.

To Yuuri: I thought you are more than accustomed to the idea of me watching you from rink side by now? *raising eyebrow*

To Viktor: Gees… if you really want to know, well… I'm still plagued by wet dreams about you to look you in the eyes now! I'm worried I might flub my warm-up later with you watching by the side of the rink… and you know how my performance always link to my mental state. If I flub during warm-up, I would start to lose faith in myself and then flub it again during the official round of performance… it's like dominos effect, I swear.

To Yuuri: Oh… how do I make you feel better then?

To Viktor: Erm… I don't know, maybe hug me? No kissing though… it will only remind me of those dreams…

Almost immediately, the twenty-seven year old Russian started heading towards Yuuri and then pull him into a loose hug in public. Thank god there weren't any reporters around but it was still enough to cause a stir among the competitors and coaches alike.

"Geez! What are you doing, old man?" Yurio growled out at Viktor when the twenty-seven year old finally noticed what a stir he had caused with his actions.

"… When I say I might need a hug from you, I don't mean for you to do it here in the restaurant but at the side of the rink before I stepped on to the ice for the warm-up." Yuuri deadpan when Viktor turns towards him with wide innocent eyes.

"Oh… that's easy." Viktor suddenly exclaimed, and then he made a bee-line for the unsuspecting figure of Christophe Giacometti and caught the Swiss man into a hug as well exclaiming the 'Good luck' for all to hear.

"Erm… thank you?" Chris was completely bewildered, he had just step into the restaurant with his coach when Viktor suddenly caught him in a hug so forgive him for his slow uptake on the situation in general.

Next, Viktor moves on to hug Cao Bin in the same way causing the Chinese skater to near drop his cup of tea in shock. After a few more hugs to other competitors on Viktor's part, the commotion finally dies down but now the attention is on to Yakov Feltsman the coach in charge for the Russian Team.

Poor Yakov was embarrassingly red in the face when he caught on to the underlying message from fellow coaches thinking about how 'unique' his protégés was… and he spend the good part of the morning screaming at Viktor for his brainless acts. Although, Christophe Giacometti ended up having a good laugh over Viktor's genius idea at the contingency plan when he finally caught on to the reason behind the Russian's hug bestowed on him.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 9/4/17.


	44. Chapter 44

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters

Chapter 44

"So how does it feels?" Christophe Giacometti asks with a wide grin on his face as he approaches the sulking figure of Viktor Nikiforov. The silver-haired Russian skater was now alone in the hotel lounge, having just gotten dismissed from Yakov Feltsman's sight. The poor coach could be heard screaming at Viktor audibly even with the lounge door tightly closed from public's view.

"Huh? What do you mean by how does it feels?" Viktor Nikiforov acted blur as he shot the question back at Chris in return.

"Well… I'm referring to how you goes around hugging fellow competitors wishing them good luck in their programs. Seeing as I am quite certain that coach Feltsman's screaming lecture is hardly anything new for you to endure…" Chris throws back at Viktor just as easily.

"Oh…that…" Viktor winced, now that he comes to think about it probably his actions of hugging every competitors in sight is a little overkill. He should have just stick to those competitors whom he knew the name of… that would have work just as well as a cover-up for his mistake of hugging Yuuri in public.

"Yes, that… I didn't know you have that habit until today." Chris commented dryly while he was howling with laughter on the inside.

"You know as much as I do that I don't have such a habit. That was just the first thing that I could think of to cover up for my mistake of hugging Yuuri in public." Viktor responded to Chris obvious baiting with mild annoyance lacing his tone.

Chris laugh out loud as he exclaimed, "I knew it! Although, I am curious what possess you to hug him in public. Speaking of, how did he react to you hugging him in public? From what I've known, he's quite a private person…"

"I wasn't thinking clearly that's what spurs me to hug him in public. He was telling me how a hug from me could probably soothe his nerves, and I just reacted after reading that message off my phone. As for his reaction to how I cover up the mistake… well, I think he's actually amused by it despite his silence on the matter." Viktor reached for the cushion placed on the sofa couch of the hotel lounge and hugs it to his chest, as he told Chris in a flat-like tone of voice.

"Okay… so where's Yuuri then?" Chris asks next, he had been itching for a chance to speak to Yuuri since his phone conversation with Viktor a month ago but he didn't get a chance to do so seeing as he wasn't assigned to the same qualifying tournament events as the Japanese skater.

"…He's at the rink practicing with his coach." Viktor responded somewhat dejectedly, he was ban from entering the rink until noon it seems. Yakov wanted him out of sight for a few hours to cool down, so until Yakov is ready to deal with him – he wasn't to appear in front of the old coach.

"Okay… let me guess, you're not there with him because coach Feltsman ban you from the rink for now?" Chris was more than accustomed to the idea of Yakov's way of dealing with Viktor after the silver-haired man does something idiotic that reflected on the coach by now to make an educated guess.

"Why else do you think I would be staying in here staring at the walls?" Viktor asks back in return, his expression a complete misery.

"Oh well… come on, let's go find some entertainment of our own until noon." Chris suggested as he pulled the dejected looking Viktor Nikiforov up from the sofa couch in the hotel lounge.

While Chris pulls Viktor out in search for entertainment to cheer the dejected Russian up, both Yuuri Katsuki and Yuri Plisetsky were at the rink – Iceberg Skating Palace doing their warm-ups and going through their morning session of practice. The Grand Prix Final event will starts at 2.05 p.m. kicking off with the Juniors' Short Dance, and the Junior Men's Short Program would be happening around 5.40 p.m. which means Yuri Plisetsky either gets to take his dinner early or would be having his dinner only after his SP.

The official opening ceremony for the Grand Prix Finals would be taking place at 7 p.m., and the seniors would be competing only after the official opening ceremony starting off with the Pairs' Short Program at 8.30 p.m. The senior men's short program would starts around 9.50 p.m., which means depending on the outcome of the lots draw… Yuuri is in for a long day ahead.

"Yuuri, I know you claims that you don't need a nap… but the program isn't starting until tonight for you. Are you sure you don't want to try napping for an hour or two?" Celestino asks, frowning at Yuuri with concern as he speaks his mind.

"I know you're worried about me but I don't feel like napping now. How about we re-visit the topic of discussion again during lunch? Maybe I'll change my mind later, for now can we concentrate on the practice session?" Yuuri reminded Celestino as he re-enter the rink following his short toilet break.

Meanwhile, out in the streets – Chris was just about to persuade Viktor to join him in a pub he found when they chanced upon the redhead of Team Russia, Mila Babicheva.

"Mila, what are you doing out here? Aren't you supposed to practice at the rink?" Viktor could not help but asks.

"Oh, Viktor! Just the person I want to see, great! I've from Yurio that Yakov ban you from the rink until noon right?" Mila gushes out with a gleeful expression that sends warning bells off in the mind of Viktor, but unfortunately there wasn't any place for him to hide from the redhead around here.

"Yes… and?" Viktor responded somewhat warily.

"Good! Come with me on my shopping trip then! As for what I'm doing here, well…duh the senior ladies' SP isn't on until tomorrow evening. So I get to have an extra day off, seeing as Yurio has his SP later this evening around 5 plus. I figured I just have to show up at the rink for the afternoon round of practice before the event fully kicks off, Yakov probably does not have time for me this morning anyway since he probably wants to focus on observing Yurio's routine this morning." Mila proclaims grinning widely, and then she proceeds on to drag Viktor off to help with her shopping spree.

Chris watched in awe as the redhead just stalked over to where he was standing with Viktor and proceeds on to drag the older man off without giving the man a chance to protest. Suddenly, Chris was very thankful that he doesn't have any team-mates around him that would drag him along on their outing trips. Then again, Viktor doesn't seem the type to avoid going on shopping trip either… from what Chris had gathered from his past acquaintance with the Russian man, it seems that shopping is the way for the man to unwind just like clubbing was to him.

"Oh well… maybe shopping would distract Viktor more than going to a bar would." Chris shrugs as he pushes open the door to the bar with the intention to indulge in some wines and spirits before his official program tonight.

Although Viktor had seems unwilling when he was drag off on a shopping trip by Mila at first, it all changes as he entered the newly constructed mall in central Sochi. Seeing as neither of them have their own vehicles, they took the metro from the Olympic park station to the central area of Sochi instead.

Shopping does helps to take the dejected expression off Viktor's face somewhat, but it was also a torture for Viktor whom had to kind of watch his spending on the Sochi trip due to his current financial status. Still, it doesn't sits well for Viktor to simply do window-shopping at a mall and thus he still ended up buying some things at the mall. He bought a few healthy snacks for his own snacking, and then bought his Yuuri a new tie for the banquet. While he knows that Yuuri did not bring that hideous blue tie along for the trip this time around, he wasn't very sure of what kind of tie Yuuri brought along for the banquet. All he did know is that Yuuri had no intention to wear that bow-tie of his to the banquet… and so, Viktor decides to buy Yuuri a new tie instead.

At first, Viktor thought of buying Yuuri a whole set of formal suit as well… but the idea was soon forsake when he thought about how Yuuri would nag on his spending habits later in the evening… at least, he could still explain why he bought the tie for Yuuri with a valid reason. If anything, he could just claims that he doesn't have enough faith in Yuuri's fashion sense and then apologizes to Yuuri after.

Viktor and Mila appears back in front of Yakov and Yurio around noon-time with bags of purchases hanging off their hands. Funnily enough, Yakov and Yurio was sitting at the same table with Celestino and Yuuri. The two coaches appears to involve oen another deep in conversation when Viktor and Mila reappears in front of them, but the two of them stopped their conversation when they noticed Viktor's presence.

"…I sure hope not every shopping bags you are carrying on hand now belongs to you…" Yuuri suddenly spoke up drawing everyone's eyes to him as he regards the shopping bags in Viktor's hands.

"Eh…? No, only two of which are mine… the rest belongs to Mila." Viktor hurriedly explains lifting up the two bags that belongs to him for Yuuri's inspection.

"Why would it matters to you about how the old man spend his money?" Yuri Plisetsky suddenly asks, his eyes flicking between a sheepish looking Viktor and a stern looking Yuuri.

"…It matters when he tends to complain to me about how tight his financial status is after he overspend for the month." Yuuri falters for a minute before he managed to find a plausible reason to explain his concern for Viktor's spending habits.

Upon Yuuri's response, Viktor found himself gaining several incredulous looks from his coach and team-mates alike. They all seems to express the same question to him, questioning him on his bad habit of dumping personal issues on another person's plate and seeking advises thus creating troubles for someone with no relation to him. The thing is… Yuuri wasn't a complete stranger to him, in fact, Yuuri's his family aside from Makkachin. However, that is not something he could come outright to proclaim at this point of time so he could only pout in response when he felt those questioning gaze on him.

Yuuri sighed as he made a move to pull Viktor over and sat the pouting man down in the empty chair next to him. Viktor sat down where Yuuri directed him to and continues to pout and acts like a child and clings to Yuuri despite knowing how ridiculous he was acting in front of his coach and team-mates. Yuuri rolls his eyes at Viktor's acts and move to help collect a plate of food for Viktor's appetite. He was not at all surprise when Viktor follows him from behind and indicated to him what kind of food the Russian would prefer by nodding silent approval.

"Oh boy… Viktor really does have it bad for Yuuri, isn't it?" Mila commented observing the way Viktor acts towards Yuuri with concern.

Upon Mila's words, Yakov started to massage the sides of his temples feeling the start of his headache again. With the way Viktor is acting around the Japanese skater, he really would not be surprise if Viktor would give up his entire skating career just to stay by the side of that Japanese skater.

"I'll say leave the old man alone. Anyway, he's already old enough to retire… what he wants to do after his retirement is his own freedom, isn't it?" Yurio commented rather uncharacteristic then.

"Wow… you're quite peaceful with it, I would expect you to react in a more agitated way about Viktor's impending retirement…" Mila turns her attention towards Yurio then, and said.

"So long he holds on to his promise by choreographing my senior début, what he wants to do after really isn't my concern." Yurio shrugs in a nonchalant way as he responded to Mila's words.

"Ah… that you needn't worry, I'm sure he already has a program in mind for your senior début next season." That was when Yuuri spoke up, announcing his return from the buffet table with Viktor in tow.

"Yep, I already have the best program in mind for you. I can start teaching them to you when you're ready to learn them." Viktor finally had it in him to stop pouting and started behaving like his normal self again.

While Yurio's eyes brighten in anticipation, Yakov is completely bewildered by Viktor's words. "When did you start choreographing his senior début program anyway?"

"Erm… months ago when he snapped me out from my depressive snit?" Viktor randomly supplied an answer for his old coach.

The afternoon practice session went uneventfully, and Yuuri finally agreed to the idea of napping before the opening ceremony but insists on waking up before Yurio's SP so he could go to the rink and watch it in person. Viktor promise to call him twenty minutes before Yurio's turn on the ice so Yuuri would have enough time to reach the rink.

Yuuri remain a silent observer when it was time for Yurio to skate, he left the cheering part to Viktor since he wasn't sure if the blond would welcome his cheering words or not. While Yuuri did not say anything verbally, he tried to convey his well-wishes to the blond when their eyes met unexpectedly for a split second.

There wasn't much competition for Yurio in the junior level, so it really wasn't much of a wonder for the blond to rank first after the SP. Dinner was settle by room-service since there was too many people at the hotel restaurant, so the trio ended up getting room-service dinner in Viktor's room.

"Why are you blushing for no reasons?" Yurio's question jolted Yuuri out from his thoughts, and he hurried to shake his head before answering.

"Nothing… just thought of something embarrassing is all."

Viktor falter in his steps for a minute, clearly remembering what had happened the last time they took to order room service for dinner in his room. Thankfully, this time around Yurio is around to join them so there is no chance for them to have a repeat of yesterday's happenings.

After dinner, the trio then headed back to the rink for the official opening ceremony of the Grand Prix Finals. While waiting for the senior SP to start, Yuuri took the chance to call home and check in on Vic-chan and upon receiving the response from Mari that Vic-chan is happily and actively pestering the local patrons as per normal – Yuuri finally allow himself to heave a sigh of relief.

"Judging from your expression, everything is alright in Hasetsu?" Viktor asks as he leans against the wall next to the bench where Yuuri was sitting., trying to appear that he was just trying to engage Yuuri in small talks before their official face-off on the rink.

"Yes, apparently Vic-chan is as active as usual." Yuuri smiled feeling somewhat relieved as the weight sitting on his shoulder finally lessened somewhat.

"That's reassuring to know." Viktor nodded as he said, for a minute he looks as though he wants to say more but in the end decided against it. Instead, he just smiles at Yuuri and wish the Asian luck before making his way back to Yakov as he started to prepare for his own performance.

"Hey Yuuri, how are you feeling tonight?" Christophe Giacometti appears then, slinging an arm good-naturedly over Yuuri's shoulder as he asks.

~to be continued~

Date completed: 10/4/17.


	45. Chapter 45

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters

Chapter 45

"Chris…what do you mean?" Yuuri stutters for a second as his calm exterior falters, how much of a coincidence could it be for the Swiss to approach him the minute Viktor left his side?

"Well, you use to get exceptionally nervous before competing but it doesn't appears that your nerves are going to affect you as bad this time around. So, how much of that is really due to that hug you received from Viktor earlier on in the day?" Chris asks with a sly grin as he cozy up to Yuuri by purring his words into Yuuri causing the Japanese to squirm a little from the lack of personal space between them.

Christophe Giacometti smirks inwardly when he caught the warning look directed his way from Viktor Nikiforov, if it weren't for Yakov restraining grip on the Russian… Chris suspects that the man would stalk over and pry him off Yuuri personally.

"Vitya! Control yourself, and gets your emotions in check. You are up next!" Yakov growls warningly to his most talented student, and the most troublesome student to date.

Yakov's warning somehow managed to worm itself into Viktor's mind and snapped him out from his jealousy state. Once Viktor had his logical sense of mind back, he felt incredibly stupid. He already knew Chris is just messing with him, since this was not the first time Chris was cozying up to a fellow competitor. In fact, he had personally been on the receiving end of it several times in the past. It make sense that Chris would do the same to Yuuri, too…so why did the sight of it bothers him when Yuuri didn't even bat an eyelid at it?

"Chris, I would appreciate it if you keep your hands to yourself. Stop trying to feel me up because really… you're not exactly my cup of tea. Although, I must say if your motive is to provoke Viktor…then you are very successful in it because he looks ready to skin you." Yuuri smiles an encouraging smile to the silver-haired Russian whom was about to step into the rink while he gritted out his words to the Swiss man whose hands still lays unmoving on his backside in a soft but firm tone of voice.

"Yes… that I could see and I could say I'm quite amuse with his reaction to it. Speaking of, is it true that you met Viktor back in that Nagoya TV Cup event about nine-years back?" Chris then steer the conversation topic to the cover-story both Yuuri and Viktor had constructed a month ago.

Almost immediately, Yuuri's mind went on red-alert mode. He should have expected that Chris would not buy into that cover story Viktor has woven and is now looking for loopholes on his side. Though, he was also relieved at the same time because Chris had finally removed his hand from his backside though the man remain standing quite close to him in general.

"Yes, it's true." Yuuri hurriedly blurt out before he could lose his nerve, not daring to glance at Chris – he focus his attention on the ice where Viktor is now performing his SP.

"Hm.m… if that is the case, how did he avoid going around telling people about the two of you being friends?" Chris asks then, this was yet another question that bugs him since he heard the story of how Viktor knew Yuuri. Because judging from the way Viktor is behaving now, it really doesn't make any sense for the Russian man to not go around publicizing the fact that he knew Yuuri on a personal scale years ago.

"I threaten to stop talking to him if he goes around publicizing the fact that we are friends." Yuuri lied without batting an eyelid as he responded, keeping it in mind to not turn and look Chris in the eyes.

"Huh… but why?" Chris was baffle although he could see why Viktor might choose to stay silent on the topic if Yuuri threatens him with about ignoring the Russian for pro-longed period.

"What do you mean?" Yuuri finally turn towards Chris and asks, a confused look on his face.

"Why would you threaten to stop talking to Viktor if he lets it slips that the two of you are friends before?" Chris had to admit he was having some trouble wrapping his mind around the idea that someone would not want to publicize the idea of Viktor Nikiforov is on good terms with them.

"A few reasons actually, first of all – I'm having trouble believing that my all-time idol speaks with me on regular basis on email at that point of time. Secondly, that time I'm juggling a lot on my plate and really have no time for the media uproar that would occur if Viktor were to let it slip unintentionally that he, a top-notch figure skater knows me – a nobody, dime of a dozen figure skater registered with the JSF. Thirdly, I told him that I want the media to notice me by proving my worth on the ice and not because I'm a friend of his hence my threatening to cut him off completely should he let it slips that he knows me before I even reach the level to compete with him on the same ice." Yuuri started to point out a few reasons to Chris, explaining his reasonings for how Viktor and him had refrain from making their acquaintance with one another a general knowledge over the past few years.

While Yuuri may look calm on the outside, he was actually fretting on the inside. He cannot believe the one term of acting elective class attended in school was actually put into use under such situation. The best way to put on a convincing act is to mix the truth in with the lies, and this was exactly what Yuuri was doing with Chris now. Speaking of juggling a lot on his plate, when was he not doing that exactly?

The music for Viktor's SP came to a stop then, and it brings the distracted Yuuri back into reality. Seeing as he was up next, he politely excused himself from Chris presence and headed to the entrance way of the rink where Viktor was now returning to retrieve the skate guards from Yakov. The duo share a second of eye-contact before Yakov ushered Viktor away from Yuuri and over to the Kiss & Cry corner to await the results. Yuuri, however, was given a gentle pat on the shoulder from Celestino as he ready for his own SP routine.

Yuuri was not surprise when he heard the announcement for Viktor's scores, it was the highest among all who had performed up until this point of time. In the past, hearing Viktor's scores before his own performance might have added unnecessary pressure on Yuuri… now though, it no longer matters. Although the competitive part of him wants to try beating Viktor's scores by leveling up the difficulty level of his jumps, the logical part of him reminded him of a dozen reasons why he shouldn't try anything of the sort. Still, he wasn't going to go down without a fight though… so, he swap his combination jump sequence arrangement from a Triple-Double-Triple to a Triple-Quad-Triple arrangement that nearly gave Celestino a heart-attack since there wasn't any pre-warning given to the Italian American coach.

His standalone jump for the SP remains the Quad Toe-Loop, no wait… was it initially a Triple instead? Whatever, what's done can't be undone. Since, Quad Toe-Loop was one of his best quads at this point of time, Yuuri supposed it doesn't matters much to Celestino that he level it up from a Triple to a Quad in the SP. He thinks Celestino would be more shock with his impulsive acts of switching his combination jump arrangement from a Triple Flip-Double Toe Loop – Triple Lutz to a Triple Lutz – Quad Salchow – Triple Flip arrangement.

"Yuuri, next time give me some warning – will you?" Celestino's voice boomed at the Asian when he returned to the side of the rink to retrieve his skate guards from the Italian American.

"Sorry, I was hesitant about doing it up until the point I'm actually preparing for the jumps." Yuuri apologized to Celestino with utmost sincerity.

Oh my god, Yuuri~~~~~ He landed the Salchow! Did you see it, Yakov? He landed it!" Viktor was so excited that he was bouncing up and down in front of the reporters over at the kiss and cry corner when he saw that Yuuri had nailed the Quad Salchow.

"Yes, yes… I'd seen it. Vitya, now calm down and move along. You have interviews to do, and you can't be here in the Kiss & Cry with him!" Yakov reminded as he tug the unwilling Viktor along with him as they cleared out from the Kiss & Cry corner to free up the area for Celestino and Yuuri Katsuki.

The interview session seems exceptionally long for Viktor to endure this evening, he was restless but he still made it a point to smile for the camera. He saw from the corner of his eyes that Yuuri was equally swamped by reporters just a few steps away from him, and it seems that someone among the reporters had asks Yuuri an unexpected question because the Asian had frozen for a split second before responding in Japanese to the said reporter.

Since Viktor had his own questions to answer for the reporters, he can't actually hear what was going on over at Yuuri's side but he vowed to ask Yuuri about it later when they finally got rid of the media crowd.

"Yuuri~~~" The sound of Viktor's voice coming from behind caused the Asian to stop in his steps, and turn around. His eyes widen at the sight of Viktor leaping forth at him, not a minute later he was tackle by the Russian into an enthusiastic hug in public.

Behind Viktor, Yuuri could easily see how weary coach Yakov was with Viktor's acts and Yurio was openly rolling his eyes at how Viktor is behaving now.

"Yuuri~~~congratualations for landing your Quad Salchow! I thought your quad salchow is going into your FS? Why did you not tell me that you change your SP arrangements?" Viktor was pouting again.

"… It wasn't intentional, besides I thought you likes surprise?" Yuuri raised an eyebrow questioningly at Viktor before he too, throw caution to the wind and hug the Russian man back loosely as he congratulate on Viktor's results.

"Oi, in-case it has slipped the both of you… this is the hotel lobby. Unless, the two of you wants to end up feature in tomorrow's headlines – I suggest the two of you to stop hugging in public before someone tell the media." Yuri Plisetsky said as he stalked towards the hugging duo and reminded them pointedly.

"Right…" Viktor and Yuuri then abruptly let go of one another, as they stepped away from one another. The group then continues on their way toward the elevator, with Yuuri and Viktor still engage in conversation that switches between English, Russian and Japanese.

"…When did you learn how to speak Russian, Yuuri?" Celestino then asks.

"Vitya, since when did you pick up Japanese as well?" Yakov frowned.

"Eh…I've always known Japanese, I thought you are aware of it?" Viktor hurriedly deflected the bullet but unfortunately the reason wasn't good enough for Yakov.

"Yes, but I wasn't aware you are capable of deciphering the language beyond the commonly used greetings." Yakov deadpan as he eyed Viktor in a critical and assessing way.

"…Yuuri had taught me the language in private for years, right?" With that, Viktor turned towards Yuuri and asks with silent pleading eyes.

"Yes, and Viktor had been teaching me basic Russian through our past email correspondence as well. That's how I pick up my Russian knowledge." Yuuri caught on and supply the same excuse to Celestino as well.

"Excuse me, but are you Yuuri Katsuki-san?" Suddenly, a soft-spoken female voice cuts into the crowd and draws everyone attention away from Yuuri and towards the new-comer.

"Erm… yes?" Yuuri was equally bewildered, since he wasn't expecting anyone to look for him in Sochi, Russia.

"Ah… thank god, I didn't make a mistake. I'm Shimizu Kaori from Queens Record." The female introduced herself as she handed her name-card over to Yuuri.

"Oh… Shimizu-san, how may I help you today?" Yuuri took the name-card from the woman and smile as he awaited the next words from the representative of Queens Records.

"Our company would be doing a collaboration project with the Animation Association of Japan, and would like you to lead the flute section of the orchestra formed specially for the recordings and later performances in the coming year." Shimizu Kaori smiles warmly as she explains her reason for approaching Yuuri.

"I see… when would the recording and performances be taking place if I may ask?" Yuuri voice across then, and if the timing happens to match with his last term in school – he might agree to it as part of his performance requirements.

"During the first quarter of 2016, I know you are looking for an opportunity to satisfy your graduating criteria at one go and I have to say this is a very good opportunity for you to do so. In fact, it was your friend Kanade who referred you to us for consideration earlier on in the month. You don't have to give me an answer now, but I would appreciate it if you could get back to me with your response over the next three days since we are kind of running on a tight time leash." Shimizu Kaori said, and then she bowed politely to the group before taking her leave from the hotel altogether.

"Well… at least now I know where that random question from Morooka-san had come from just now." Yuuri murmurs to no one in particular, still staring at the name-card in his hands before tucking it into his jacket pocket and filed the knowledge to the back of his mind to think about it later in private.

"Yuuri… are you seriously thinking about doing it?" Celestino sighed as he asks then.

"Erm… maybe, it is a good opportunity like what she had mention and besides whether I do it or not, I'm still going to sit out on the Four Continents and World Championship either way. I thought you already knows that?" Yuuri glances over at Celestino questioningly as he responded.

"Well… I didn't think you were serious about sitting out of the rest of the season, I thought it was just your insecurity at work." Celestino pinched the bridge of his nose in weariness as he responded.

"…Unfortunately no, I'm dead serious with what I'd told you before. I need to graduate college by end March latest next year, and I can't graduate until I clear off all my performance requirements and you knows it too." Yuuri reminded Celestino dryly, biting his tongue to stop himself from blurting out that their contract with one another is expiring by end of December this year in front of Team Russia.

Surprisingly, Viktor did not say anything in response to Yuuri sitting out on the Four Continents and World Championship despite that this is probably the first time he heard Yuuri mentioning it. Not that Viktor wasn't disappointed about Yuuri taking off the rest of the season, but because he already expected Yuuri to not do World Championship since the point he knows of the graduating project Yuuri was working on. The timing clashes with the World Championship, and he figures Yuuri would not have the time to practice for the World Championship Tournament. As for the Four Continents, well… that didn't disappoint Viktor much since he wasn't qualify to take part in it either way.

"Celestino, please don't tell me you are reluctant to let Yuuri go now that you had seen how much potential he has in him to excel and improve in his skating. I thought we have a previous agreement between us?" Viktor spoke up then startling everyone badly.

"Agreement, what agreement?" Yuuri blinked in complete bewilderment, what on earth happens between Viktor and Celestino that he had no idea about?

"Yuuri, I'm telling you now so you won't flip on me later… I'll be officially taking on the role as your coach coming next season." Viktor finally announced successfully getting several incredulous looks from his team members, and a wide-eyed confusion look from Yuuri.

"Are you retiring?" Yurio blurted out in shock, while he says he don't really care about what Viktor might do after this season so long he delivers his promise of choreographing his senior debut… the sudden announcement of Viktor coaching Yuuri Katsuki was still a shock to his system.

"No… not really, I might retire after another 2-3 seasons but not right away. Although, I am taking a break of competing for the first half of the next season since I want to focus on working with Yuuri then." Viktor explains and after a quick look shared with Yuuri, they shifted the group to the hotel lounge where they could continue the discussion in private.

Celestino had excused himself from that point onwards, because really it wasn't his issue to fret over seeing as Viktor wasn't his student and hence wasn't his responsibility. He will leave that to Yakov, and goes back to his room nursing a nightcap or something. Yuuri, however, stayed behind because he was obviously a part of Viktor's future career plan.

The group spend the next hour in the hotel lounge listening to Viktor's outlined plan for the coming season, and it took another hour for Viktor and Yakov to iron things out between them before they finally work out all the details with regards to Viktor's plan of doing both coaching and competing at the same time. Basically, it all boils down to Yuuri shifting to Saint Petersburg for his training after graduation from his college.

"I have no objections to shifting my home base to Saint Petersburg, but I appeal for a two months break after my graduation." Yuuri interjected then, he needs to go back to Hasetsu to make arrangements if he's going to train in Saint Petersburg until Viktor officially retires from figure skating since they are bringing forth the arrangement made initially after the GPF Barcelona next season.

"Oh right, you need to go back to Hasetsu first… all that paperwork to settle with the authority as well." Viktor murmurs, and then turn back to Yakov announcing that he will be taking a holiday break for the period Yuuri's in Hasetsu because he really wants to visit the hot spring inn operated by the Katsuki family.

After the discussion, Yurio appears placated by the idea that Viktor would not retire right away and is just taking a two months holiday break off training to go sight-seeing in Hasetsu, Japan. Yakov, however, only wants to sleep off his migraine that was pounding away in his skull after hours of hashing things out with his problematic protégé.

"Yuuri, stay with me tonight? I promised I won't do anything though… the event is hardly over at this point." Viktor pleaded with Yuuri using his puppy eyes attack, and Yuuri sigh before giving in to Viktor's request.

"Fine, but I need to go back to my room first to get something. I'll see you in your room in fifteen minute." Yuuri said, and with that left Viktor's side for his room to retrieve the present for the Russian that was still sitting in his luggage.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 11/4/17.


	46. Chapter 46

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters

Chapter 46

Fifteen minute later, Yuuri padded down the aisle of the hotel corridor way to knock on Viktor's room door. The door was open almost immediately, and Yuuri place the present for Viktor into the man's hand before he could be tugged into another kiss.

"What's this?" Viktor blinked, completely distracted from his first thought as he blinked down at the present Yuuri had pressed into his hands upon arrival.

"An advance present for your birthday and Christmas… since your birthday falls on 25th Dec, it does saves me much hassle of finding two separate gifts." Yuuri responded, before adding the second part of his words as an afterthought.

"Oh… can I open it now or do I have to wait until the day itself to open it?" Viktor asks then, his eyes flicking between the gift bag and Yuuri with unhidden curiosity burning in the depths of his eyes.

"It's up to you, though I must insist if you choose to open it now… I am not going to spending my night here watching them with you." Yuuri eventually said, while he had put in effort in locating his old performance videos for Viktor… he personally had no desires to watch them with the Russian.

Upon Yuuri's words, Viktor's eyes widen before he finally could not resists the temptation any longer and tore into the gift. The minute his eyes landed on the stack of discs, some store-purchased while some is obviously recorded on DVD-R… Viktor's eyes watered.

"Yuuri, are these your old performances videos?" Viktor asks with watery eyes.

"Yes, and please don't cry over such small things – will you?" Yuuri sweat-dropped at Viktor's reaction to his choice of gifts.

"I'm not crying, I'm just touched by the efforts you made in getting them for me." Viktor blinked away the unshed tears in his eyes as he smiles at Yuuri, before he made a move to hug the Asian again.

"So, care to tell me which are your dance performances and which are strictly music performances?" Viktor then asks as he let go of Yuuri, pulling the Asian along to sit on his bed as they went through the stack of discs that are now sitting on the bed in between them.

"I think its' quite straight forward for the store-bought discs, the world tour live concert for Jason Lee 2012 and the Angela Martha 2012 Asian Tour live concert are of course dance videos. However, seeing as the main center of attention is the singer… you probably can't see me very clearly when I'm in the back. Feel free to skip the main performance and goes straight to the extra part of the DVD whereby it features sneak peeks for the concert preparation. There are some rehearsals videos that has me in them. As for the self-recorded DVD-Rs, the yellow discs are the dance rehearsal videos from last year's school event for Kanade's performance." Yuuri separated his performance discs out for Viktor at the Russian's requests.

"Okay… and the blue ones?" Viktor prompted then.

"The blue discs are my informal flute performances caught on videos by Kanade during classroom activities. He sent them to me when I asks him for it… and those store-bought discs with the logo AJBA imprinted on them are official recordings of the All Japan Bands Competitions during my high school period. It's a mix compilation CD that compiles my school's band performance over the years so not every tracks comes from my batch. I found it by chance in a second-hand CD store, so I thought to include it with the rest of the discs as well." Yuuri admitted.

"Oh… can we watch it together sometime? I don't mean now, of course…" Viktor hurried to say since he doesn't want Yuuri to leave him alone and he quite remember what Yuuri had said earlier on about not wanting to stay and watch the videos.

"Maybe, but my ultimate aim for gifting them to you is for you to watch them when I'm not around. Weren't you the one complaining about not being able to survive a day without me? These discs are to tide you over until you can join me in Hasetsu." Yuuri explained before he noticed Viktor's eyes getting wet from unshed tears again.

"…" Yuuri fell silent as he wonders what Yurio would say if he sees them now… probably mutters something about Viktor getting sentimental in his old age. With a sigh, Yuuri reached over and give the Russian a hug. Eventually, the two of them ended up cuddling one another as they speaks about what they planned to do after parting ways in Sochi.

"Speaking of, I had a gift for you as well." Viktor suddenly leapt out from Yuuri's embrace and grab the shopping bag sitting on the side of the bedside table of the hotel and handed it over to the curious Asian.

"A gift? It's not my birthday though… I already received a present for that anyway." Yuuri started, sounding quite confused about why Viktor had another gift for him.

"Consider an advance Christmas gift in that case, and actually I bought it for the banquet…" Viktor responded as he handed the gift over to Yuuri.

Yuuri took the bag and peered into it warily, as though fearing for what Viktor had it in mind to get him this time. Yuuri allows himself to sigh in relief when he realized that it is nothing too fanciful but just a common tie. Taking the tie out from the bag, Yuuri observed it thoroughly to find that while it is still in the shade of blue – the shade is so dark that it resembles black.

"You really should burn that baby blue hideous tie of yours…" Viktor commented when Yuuri arched an eyebrow up at him in question.

"…Okay fine… maybe pastel colors just aren't for me. However, burning it seems such a waste though… maybe I ought to give it to Vic-chan as a toy instead or maybe I could give it to charity?" Yuuri shakes his head at Viktor's insistence for him to burn that hideous tie of his… and so he started to list of his possible methods at discarding that 'hideous' tie of his in front of the Russian.

"No… don't give it to Vic-chan, what if he chokes on it." Viktor look absolutely alarmed when Yuuri consider giving the baby blue tie away for Vic-chan to play with, and thus Yuuri rolls his eyes and said.

"Fine, to the charity it will be…"

"Good, so long I don't see it around… I don't care what you do to it." Viktor nodded as the topic surrounding Yuuri's hideous tie is finally resolved.

With the tie issue completely settled and out-of-the-way, the duo settled back in bed together doing nothing but cuddling one another for comfort. They allowed the sense of familiarity of being in each other's arms to lull them to sleep. They awake the next morning to the sound of Yurio pounding on Viktor's door, and without thinking Yuuri stumbled out of bed to answer the door.

"What the hell are you doing here, Katsudon?" Yurio's yell dies on his lips when he notice the person whom answers the door was not who he was expecting.

"…" Yuuri blinked as his sleepy mind finally registered that this was not his hotel room but Viktor, and he had against his logic spend the night here with Viktor the day before. Pressing the heel of his palm to his head, Yuuri sigh and invite the blond teen into the room before shutting the door behind him.

"Anyway, just comes in… and judging from the way you are behaving … I'm going to assume Viktor had forgotten something that has to do with you, right?" Yuuri commented, not really expecting an answer from the shell-shock teen and instead stalk back towards the bed and nudge the sleeping Russian awake.

"Rise and shine, you sleepy head. Yurio is here looking for you, did you forget a promise to him again?" Yuuri prompts shaking Viktor awake as he asks.

"Hm..m…? What's the date today?" Viktor asks subconsciously.

"… 11th December 2015, the second day of the Sochi GPF." Yuuri, thankfully, already has his mind working on alert mood reminded the sleepy Russian pointedly.

"Oh…" There was a split second of delay before the dawning light of realization finally hit Viktor, as the sleepy Russian leaps out of bed and made a bee-line for the attached bathroom.

"… What did he forget this time?" Yuuri turns towards the exasperated blond teen as he asks, and then he made a move for the wardrobe where he knew Viktor stowed the luggage in.

"He promised Yakov that he would oversee my morning session of practice while Yakov works on refining Mila's routine for her SP tonight." Yurio stated flatly as he watched in silence about how the Japanese had headed for Viktor's wardrobe and retrieve clothes for the Russian as though it was an usual occurrence without batting an eyelid.

"Yuuri, could you be a dear and fetch me some clothes? I seem to have forgotten about them just now…" Just then, Viktor calls out from the attached bathroom.

"…" Yurio then watched with the most peculiar expression as he took in the sight of Yuuri Katsuki entering the bathroom with new clothes picked out together with under-wear for Viktor without much reaction save for a look of fond exasperation.

"Seriously, are the two of you secretly married to one another or something?" Yurio blurted out unable to hold his tongue any longer when Yuuri finally re-emerged from the attached bathroom.

"Excuse me?" Yuuri's eyes widen in shock as he turn towards the blond teen staring at him with the most complicated expression he had ever seen on the teen's face.

Yurio rolls his eyes at the Japanese reaction before responding in a huff, "Well… with the way the two of you acts with one another, either the two of you are in a stable relationship or the two of you are secretly married to one another. I don't even want to comment on how much he moped about without you being around, and with the way you goes about locating his personal belongings without encountering much trouble… I would be a fool to not realize anything is going on between the two of you."

"We are not married." Yuuri finally blurts out, his face completely red. However, before he could say more the door to the attached bathroom opened and Viktor Nikiforov emerged from within. The Russian grins widely at Yurio, before correcting Yuuri's words as he placed a chaste kiss on the Japanese's cheeks.

"Yet – Yuuri, you forgot the keyword. We are not married yet, but we will be… soon."

"Whatever, just be careful with the PDA." Yurio mutters at the twenty-seven year old Russian once Viktor had come outright with the admission of his relationship with Yuuri Katsuki of Japan.

"Oh Yurio… was that concern I detected from your tone of voice?" Viktor removed himself from Yuuri and pulled the fifteen year old blond in for a hug then, causing the younger skater to splutter and protests against Viktor's hold in agitation.

"Idiot old man, let go of me this instance! Keep your hugs away from me, I don't need them!" Yurio protested as he struggles to escape Viktor's embrace.

"Aww… don't say that Yurio, everyone needs a hug every now and then." Viktor coo-ed causing Yurio to make a gagging face before finally focusing his attention on the bystander Yuuri Katsuki.

"Katsudon, do something about this idiot of yours!" Yurio had all but growled at Yuuri since his words of protests doesn't works on Viktor at all.

"Viktor… aren't you already running late? Do you still have the time to fool around with Yurio? I'm sure he wants to start practicing, and you are not helping by delaying him… unlike us, he has his FS program later this evening." Yuuri then took out his mobile phone glances down at the time, before turning towards Viktor with a warning smile and reminded in a flat-like tone.

"Right… we better get going." Viktor sweat-dropped at the silent warning from Yuuri and the silent threat of Yuuri calling Yakov up to clue the old coach in on his dalliance. With that, Viktor left the room dragging Yurio with him in a rush leaving Yuuri alone behind in his room.

Yuuri stared after the sight of Viktor's departure blankly, and then he waited and counted mentally to three before he heard the sound of a knock on the door again. Pulling the door open, Yuuri was not surprise to see Viktor standing outside sheepishly with Yurio muttering what an idiot he was.

"Seriously, how long did it takes for you to remember that you forgot your room card-key when you left? Not to forget how ridiculous you look now, with your hair damp and still in slippers?" Yuuri prompts before shaking his head at Viktor, not really expecting a response from the sheepish man.

"Come here, I'll dry your hair for you. In the mean-time, you can exchange the slippers for the proper outdoor shoe-wear." Yuuri said as he plug-in the power of the hair-dryer he found in the bathroom cabinet to the power point next to the bed, and started blowing dry the hair for Viktor.

"Thanks." Viktor grinned so blissfully that the sight almost blinded Yurio who is still standing in the room with them.

In the end, Yurio choose to entertain himself with his phone while waiting for a certain idiot to ready himself for their trip to the rink.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us?" Viktor asks Yuuri when the trio finally exits his room.

"No, I'm meeting Celestino for breakfast but I might drop by the rink later. I'll bring you something to eat then, now hurry and go. Don't keep Yakov waiting any longer …" Yuuri told Viktor as he pushes the unmoving Russian towards the elevator.

"Alright…" Viktor sighed out with mild disappointment and was about to lean in for a kiss when Yurio interrupted loudly.

"Oi, are you done or not? Have you forgotten this is the corridor way, no PDA in public – remember?"

"Right… no PDA, I really ought to remember this is Russia…" Viktor muttered under his breath, while Yuuri heaved a sigh in relief mentally that Yurio is around to remind Viktor about it because he seriously doubt his logical mind would function well when Viktor kisses him or something.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 12/4/17.


	47. Chapter 47

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters

Chapter 47

"Finally, what kept the two of you?" Mila whispered when she finally caught sight of the approaching figures of Viktor and Yuri Plisetsky.

"The old man forgot about it, what else? Waiting for him to wait up and get ready took up all the time." Yurio decided to hide the truth that he was not the one who woke Viktor up, and the reason they were late were partly due to Viktor reluctance to leave the side of the Japanese Yuuri.

"So, where's Yakov?" Viktor glances about the rink, finally asks Mila when he fails to notice Yakov anywhere around.

"He got a call from Lilia it seems, and he stepped out to answer it." Mila shrugs silently using her eyes to convey the message that Viktor's lucky Yakov is occupied by Lilia's call, otherwise it is a sure guarantee that he would be on the receiving end of another tongue-lashing lecture from the old coach by now.

"Speaking of Lilia…is it true that Yakov is going through a rough patch with that wife of his?" Mila asks then, her gossiping nature emerging as she tries to get Viktor's opinion on the issue.

"…" Viktor sweat-dropped, he wish he could come outright with his knowledge but unfortunately that was something he must keep to himself because he wasn't supposed to know anything of it yet. So, until Yakov comes out with the announcement that his marriage with Lilia had ended… Viktor must avoid letting his knowledge of the couple's impending divorce slips from him.

"OI, I'm done with the warm-up. What do you want me to do now?" Yurio's voice successfully offer Viktor with an 'out' to escape Mila's attempt at gossiping about Yakov's family issues.

"Go through your FS routine for me, I haven't had a chance to see it up-close before." Viktor excused himself from Mila's company and headed over to where Yurio was, putting on his 'coach' persona while he did so.

Yurio rolls his eyes at Viktor's attempt of playing 'coach', but still goes along with the older man's words.

"Work on your footwork, at least make some effort in hiding that your footwork is sloppy from the judges. I'm sure you wouldn't want to have your TES affected because of that sloppy footwork. So works on it, I'm not expecting you to perfect it only for you to hide it or make it less obvious to the judging team." Viktor remains firm in his advises that Yurio's footwork needs work.

Weeks before Yurio would have protested against Viktor's words, but after watching the senior short program event last night… all Yurio did was to make a 'tsk' sound under his breath before he goes back to work on his footwork like what Viktor had requested of him. When Yakov returns from his call with Lilia, his lecturing words dies on his lips when he noticed how focused and concentrated Viktor was when it comes down to correcting Yuri Plisetsky's sloppy footwork.

"Mila, how long has Viktor been working on Yuri's footwork?" Yakov asks calling out at Mila, his only female protégé thus far.

"Over the last twenty minutes or so, I think… They arrived half an hour ago, and after warming up… Yurio had shown Viktor his FS routine once. Directly after that the two of them has been working on correcting Yurio's sloppy footwork it seems." Mila glances over at where Viktor was working with the blond for a minute, before turning back to Yakov and responded.

"Ah… the Japanese Yuuri is here, oh my… he brought Viktor and Yurio food. Such a thoughtful gesture…" Mila coo-ed over the sight while Yakov clears his throat loudly from behind Mila and orders the female back to the rink to restart their training session.

As Mila enters the rink to resume her training, Yurio exited the rink for a short break. He took the bottle of energy drink from Yuuri, but declined the offer for food. Viktor, however, welcome the food offer eagerly since he failed to have his breakfast earlier on in the day.

"Actually, Yurio's footwork is a lot better than before now… unless you go specifically looking for it, it's hard to notice that his footwork wasn't up to level 3. I sure hope you aren't using my footwork as a benchmark for Yurio because that wouldn't be fair…" Yuuri reminded Viktor when the man asks him for his opinions on Yurio's footwork.

"I know, and I wasn't using your footwork standard as a benchmark for Yurio… but I know for a fact that his footwork could be better than what he's doing now." Viktor emphasised going into his full coaching mode now causing Yuuri to roll his eyes at the Russian.

"Viktor, seriously…I don't mind you going into your coaching mode if that is how you want to prove to Yakov that you are capable of coaching another. However, please do remember that the Yurio in front of you now is still under Yakov's guidance, don't overstep your boundary. You don't take over until Yakov retires, remember? That also didn't happen until two years after your official retirement." Yuuri whispered to the twenty-seven year old Russian while keeping his voice low to not attract Yurio's attention.

"…Right, I guess I do need the reminder every now and then. It's easy to forget when Yakov is not around to yell at me." Viktor responded somewhat sheepishly after the blatant reminder from Yuuri but it was so easy to slip into his usual coaching mode when he was asked to oversee Yurio's training session.

Yuuri eyed Viktor strangely then before commenting dryly, "How accustom are you to Yakov's yelling that you actually needs it to remind you that we are back in time?"

"Considering that Yakov and Yurio's yelling at me is the only way to get me moving when this time-traveling fiasco first occurs, I would say I'm quite accustomed to it." Viktor sigh in response as he placed a kiss on Yuuri's hand, since this is the only way he could express his feelings to Yuuri without drawing everyone's attention on him.

Yuuri's face redden slightly upon Viktor's action and when he caught sight of the exasperated expression on Yurio's face, the twenty-three year old figure skater representing Japan felt so embarrass that he wished he could disappear.

"Viktor…" Yuuri protested mildly as he tried to remove his hands from the Russian unsuccessfully.

"I'm already trying my best at being discreet." Viktor pouted as he pulls on his best puppy eyes look while he stare at Yuuri.

Yuuri's face was so warm that he was quite thankful for the phone call he received from Celestino asking on his whereabouts because the phone call had saved him from the plight of doing anything stupid with Viktor. On the other hand, Viktor sigh in disappointment when Yuuri took his leave from the rink. However, that was soon forgotten when his eyes landed on the figure of an exasperated Yurio.

"Yurio, are you sure you don't want any? These pirozhki are good though… although not as good compared to your grandfather's recipe but they are still quite good in general." Viktor decides to mess with the fifteen-year old for a little, and he smirked inwardly when he caught the teen eyeing the bag of food that Yuuri had brought for them to share.

"I already said I didn't want any before, didn't I?" Yurio said, trying to stay unwavering in his decision but it is not an easy feat. It was one thing to reject the offer of food when he had no idea what was inside the bag, but totally another when he knows the bag has pirozhki – his favorite food.

"Really? That's so sad… Yuuri must have queue for an hour to get hold of these pirozhki, and the person he got it for didn't even appreciate his efforts." Viktor purposely put on a sad look as he commented and just when he was about to turn and go with the bag of pirozhki, Yurio snatches the bag out from his hand.

"Fine, I'll appreciate his efforts in getting them. There, are you satisfied now?" Yurio glared at the twenty-seven year old man who brightens immediately after his acts of grabbing the bag of pirozhki.

"Oh… Yurio, I'm sure Yuuri would appreciate knowing that his offer of goodwill was appreciate." Viktor exclaimed before he attempted to call Yuuri on the phone to announce the fact, and that causes Yurio to attempt snatching the phone off his hands thus catching every skater's attention in the area.

Eventually, their actions was stop by Yakov's yelling for them to stop fooling around and restart the training session. Annoyed by Viktor, Yurio had stalked toward Yakov demanding the old coach instructions instead of Viktor because he had enough of footwork training for now. Henceforth, Viktor was officially dismissed from the rink… okay, maybe the exact wording is for Viktor to get his ass on to the rink and start his own training but Viktor choose to ignore Yakov's instruction and left the rink in search for his beloved Yuuri instead.

"Yakov, Viktor's leaving instead of practicing like you told him to." Mila reported as she caught sight of Viktor sneaking off.

"Let him be… he never listens to me anyway." Yakov simply mutters in response, he had long give up on getting Viktor to obey his every words and instructions by now.

"Speaking of, what do you really think of Viktor's plan of coaching Yuuri Katsuki?" Mila inquires then, she was quite curious about what her coach thought of Viktor's decision since the discussion last evening.

"It's foolish of him to think of juggling coaching with competing at the same time, but whom was I to stop him when he obviously already had his mind made up?" Yakov responded in a gruff-like tone that matches his disgruntled expression when the topic came up.

"Actually, the old man might not have problems pulling it off altogether." Yurio then commented putting in his own inputs on Viktor's decision.

"What do you mean?" Mila glances over to the sullen teen then, prompting the fifteen year old to elaborate his answer.

"Argh… fine, the old man is surprisingly good at coaching. I would think that much is obvious after seeing how he helps the novices training at our home rink in Saint Petersburg, and the way he knew how to push me into practicing something I absolutely detests is saying something as well. He knows I never back down from a challenge, so he purposely made me watch Katsudon's program and comparing my footwork with the Katsudon forcing me to do better as I tried to catch up with the Katsudon in terms of footwork. As for the old man doing both coaching and competing at the same time, I don't think that will last more than two seasons. Besides, if he thinks he could do it – who are we to stop him?" Yurio elaborated in an impatient way before he stalked off to finish his training on his footwork. Yes, despite his insistence that he had enough of working on footwork he was still working on it after Viktor left the rink.

When Viktor finally managed to find Yuuri, the Japanese was speaking with someone on the phone. While Viktor had no idea whom Yuuri was speaking with, the name-card in Yuuri's hands give it away.

"Viktor… are you done with overseeing Yurio's practice already?" Yuuri asks as he ends the call, turning to speak with the silver-haired Russian.

"Sort of… more like Yurio got tired of me teasing him and so he went to protest with Yakov. I dismiss myself from the rink actually." Viktor shrugged as he responded in a nonchalant way, he was about to move closer to Yuuri when the sight of Chris heading their way reminded him of the fact that they were in public and hence there should strictly be no PDA.

"Viktor, Yuuri … how are you this afternoon?" Chris greeted cheerfully as he approaches the duo standing in the hotel lobby doing nothing but staring at one another.

"Chris, thank you for asking… I'm fine." Yuuri greeted politely back while Viktor merely shrugged in response to the Swiss query.

"Yuuri, surely you don't mind me borrowing Viktor for a minute?" Chris suddenly asks directing his question to Yuuri.

"Huh? Sure, I don't mind… but he is his own person, I can't stop him if he choose to go with you either way… so I'm not sure why you had to ask me for permission when you want to speak with him." Yuuri look absolutely puzzled at Chris words but still he obliged and responded.

"Well… I thought I was interrupting the two of you so I thought it best to ask for permission before grabbing him on my way out." Chris explains with a wink, and Yuuri blinked twice in bewilderment before he caught on to the hidden meaning in Chris words and turn beet red in embarrassment.

With that, Chris drag the unwilling figure of Viktor Nikiforov off leaving Yuuri alone to gape and stare after them in the hotel lobby.

"Oh my… Yuuri's reaction is so adorable, I could see why you're so smitten by him now." Chris commented to Viktor then with a sly look.

"Speaking of, I would very much appreciated it if you could please keep your hands to yourself the next time around." Viktor warned then, remembering yesterday's short program event.

"Feeling possessive much?" Chris prompted only to receive a dry look from the silver-haired Russian man in response. The look seems to convey the message 'What do you think?' and Chris had the nerve to laugh at Viktor's reaction.

"Fine, I'll keep my hands to myself the next time around. So, are the two of you official now? He seems quite aware of your feelings to him when I spoke with him yesterday." Chris asks then.

"Oh, he's aware… very much aware." Viktor smiles at Chris words, and responded.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 13/4/17.


	48. Chapter 48

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters

Chapter 48

Yuuri Katsuki wonders what he should do during the time which Viktor is out with Chris, and Celestino had technically given him the day off. Celestino was out with a few coaches that the Italian American knows during the man's own competitive days. In the end, Yuuri who can't think of anything to entertain himself went back to the rink for some personal training.

"Where's the old man? Did you finally decide to ditch him?"

"He's out with Chris… and having nothing better to do, I decide to come over for some individual training. I hope I'm not intruding?" Yuuri turn towards the blond teen and explain his reason for being at the rink without Viktor hovering around him.

"…The rink's not my property, so it's open to anyone who wants to use it." Yurio rolls his eyes as he answer Yuuri.

"I know, but I still thought it better to ask since you were using this part of the rink first." Yuuri responded as he move to join the fifteen year old on the ice. Yuuri skated easily about the ice, unconsciously drawing figures with his skates as he moves around for his warm-up. While Yuuri skates, Yurio took the chance to watch and observes Yuuri's footwork. It was perfectly executed as usual, and it looks even more splendid than before now that Yurio gets to see it up-close.

"Is anything wrong?" Yuuri suddenly asks, jolting the Russian teen back into reality.

"No… nothing's wrong." With that, Yurio snapped his attention back to his own training menu.

While Yuuri and Yurio were at the rink practicing, Viktor and Chris were in a local bar drinking. Initially, the conversation was centers on Viktor and Yuuri's relationship but somehow it ended up with Viktor bringing up the topic of plan for the future for discussion.

"So, Chris… have you ever thought about what you intends to do after your retirement?" Viktor asks.

"Huh? How did the topic of conversation jumps to that? I know I'm getting old… but I believe I still have some more years in me before I had to start planning for that." Chris nearly choke on his drink when Viktor brought up this issue for discussion out of the blue, he was completely unprepared for it.

"Yes, well… but there's no harm in planning early though." Viktor commented, before he starts to fill Chris in on his plans to go into coaching after retirement.

"Coaching… you?" Chris raised an eyebrow in skepticism, finding it hard to visualize the image of Viktor being a coach.

"Is the idea of me going into coaching so incomprehensible for you?" Viktor deadpan as he awaits his friend's response.

"To be honest… it is a little incomprehensible because you don't fit any of the coach images which I could think of at the moment." Chris responded with a nod.

"Well then… I guess you'll just have to wait and see then." Viktor smirked then, before changing the subject of conversation again.

Viktor came back to the rink about an hour before the junior FS program, and he made his move automatically to join Yuuri where the Japanese skater sat waiting instead of joining Mila, his rink-mate.

"Did you went drinking with Chris just now?" Almost immediately, Yuuri had asks.

"How did you know?" Viktor asks back in surprise, he had purposely kept his alcohol intake low to avoid stripping this time… how did Yuuri caught on to the fact that he has been out drinking earlier on?

"Your shirt reek of cigar smell, so I gathered you must have visited a bar or a pub with Chris. Knowing you, there's no chance of you settling for fruit punch when you're entered a pub or a bar so…" Yuuri shrugged as he explained how he reach the conclusion that Viktor had went drinking.

"Ah… looks like I'll need to send my shirt for laundry services then." Realization dawns in on the Russian then, before he inquires on how Yuuri had spent his time while he was away with Chris.

"I spend it at the rink with Yurio with him trying to act discreet while observing my footwork." Yuuri smiles as he recalled the blond teen's actions from before.

"You know… I think Yurio is starting to like you." Viktor suddenly commented, drawing Yuuri's attention away from the rink and towards him.

"Huh?" Yuuri blinked as he wonders how Viktor came to that conclusion.

"Are you feeling confused, my dear?" Viktor smiles as he asks and took in his beloved look of bewilderment at his earlier statement.

"Of course I'm confused because from what I'd seen, Yurio is still keeping me at a distance so I really don't see what you see."

"Haven't you notice how different he behaves around you now as compared to your last Sochi experience? He's not screaming at you and that is a good sign by itself." Viktor smiles brightly as he explain his reasonings to Yuuri.

"…Alright, so I guess first impression do counts eh? It seems like not bombing my SP the other day changes Yurio's opinion of me in a good way." Yuuri muses to his own self as he smiles, glad to escape the fate of being yelled by the blond for being a loser in the bathroom after the GPF event.

"Well, I wouldn't argue that you coming in 3rd for your SP is one of the plus factor… but I think your bribe of pirozhki works to some extent too. That, and you managed to get my idiotic self in check in another plus point in Yurio's book." Viktor eventually said before he pulls on his most dejected expression and seeks comfort from Yuuri over the idea of Yurio liking Yuuri more than him at this point.

Yuuri sweat-dropped at the sight of Viktor acting like an idiot again. Thankfully, the people around them mostly consists of competitors whom is already aware of how much of an idiot Viktor Nikiforov tends to act and thus no one batted an eyelid when Viktor started complaining about how his junior now admires Yuuri more than him.

"Honestly, stop being so dramatic about this. You should be thankful that Yakov can't see you from where he was now… if not, you would be in for another lecture." Yuuri reminded in a dry tone as he shot the Russian a warning glance while mouthing the 'No PDA' on his lips silently.

Viktor pouted in disappointment, if only they weren't in Russia…With a sigh, he lays his head on Yuuri's lap instead. For a while Yuuri only stared down at Viktor's head on his lap in an uncomprehending way before he finally caught on to what the Russian had wanted from him. A quick glance around the surrounding allows Yuuri to heave a sigh in relief that nobody was paying them any attention as the junior FS program had now officially started.

Viktor smiles when he finally felt the touch of Yuuri's hand on his head and combing through his hair gently. Before Viktor knows it, his eyelids had drooped and he ended up napping with his head on Yuuri's lap.

"Why didn't you wake him?" The sudden sound of Yurio's voice jolt the napping Viktor back to reality.

"Wake him and risk having him acting like an idiot in public again? I think not, after successfully dodging the media attention for two days in a row… I don't wish to have it jinx on the third day." Yuuri commented, before shifting his eyes down to the silver-haired man who's pretending to sleep and said.

"Sit up straight now that you're awake."

"How did you know he's conscious?" Yurio blinked at Yuuri as he asks.

"The change in his breathing patterns." Yuuri answered matter-of-factly.

"…Just how long has it been since the two of you gets together?" Yurio could not helps but asks, while he usually wasn't one to bother with such things but something about the duo's relationship that bugs him.

"If you mean officially getting together, it wasn't that long… but if you are talking about how long I've been wooing Yuuri here – I could say I've been pining over him since our first meeting." It was Viktor whom answered Yurio, since Yuuri was at a complete loss of words at this point of time.

"Sheesh, you know what… forget that I'd asks. I don't want to know anymore." Yurio changed his tune just before Viktor could open his mouth and start spinning tales about how he had fallen for Yuuri at first sight.

"Oh Yurio… don't you want to know how I managed to woo Yuuri?" Viktor pouted childishly as he reached out to pull the blond teen before the teen could move away from his reach.

"NO, I don't want to know. Keep your stories to yourself!" Yurio yelped as he felt a pull from behind before he ended up in Viktor's embrace again.

"Fine… you did well out there, and your footwork is a vast improvement than Yesterday! We're proud of you!" Viktor told Yurio as he hugged the teen, causing a look of surprise to take over the blond expression.

There was a second of delay, before Yurio went red and spluttering at Viktor. "What The Hell … Stop being disgusting, Old Man!"

Viktor laughed completely unfazed by Yurio's words, and then proceeds on to drag the spluttering teen out for dinner with Yuuri.

"Where the hell do you think you are going, Vitya?" Yakov yelled when he caught sight of Viktor rushing past him with a spluttering Yuri Plisetsky pulled along for the trip, and followed by the ever polite and humble Japanese skater – Yuuri Katsuki.

"Out celebrating Yurio's improvement on his footwork with dinner!" Viktor called over his shoulders to his old coach, as he continue to make his way out from the event venue.

"…" Yakov cursed under his breath for a minute before he headed off to fend off the reporters that was initially waiting for a chance to interview Yuri Plisetsky.

The trio went to Mikado's Sushi, a Japanese restaurant within a 25 minutes walk from the hotel they were staying. Viktor wanted to order Sake but was stop by Yuuri at the last second.

"No Sake, Yurio is still underage and getting drunk a day before the FS program is unwise. Besides, you already had plenty to drink this afternoon with Chris…" Yuuri reminded pointedly, although his main reason for stopping Viktor from ordering Sake was due to how he didn't want to deal with an intoxicate Viktor who will tends to strip after getting drunk off his ass.

They stick to mostly cooked ingredients for their sushi orders, since Yurio had no idea what kind of sushi he would like. The task of ordering falls upon the shoulders of both Viktor and Yuuri, neither of them orders any sashimi because they weren't sure how fresh the ingredients were so they stick to cook ingredients instead.

When it comes to the time to leave the restaurant, Yurio watched wide-eyes as the duo fought over the right to pay for the meal. Eventually, Yuuri won out by handing his card over to the cashier first before Viktor could do the same.

"Yuuri…" Viktor started but was interrupt by Yuuri pointed reminder on how Viktor should watch his spending and bank account balance until his next pay-check comes in from the endorsement projects.

"Still, you aren't very well-off in your financial status as well…" Viktor was frowning when he said this, the duo had completely forgotten about Yurio whom is behind them and listening in to one of their domestic disagreement.

"The payment from my 3 months of internship working with Detroit Skating Club Dance Academy is in, so I think I could afford a little extra spending this month." Yuuri's words caused a pause in Viktor's argument then, as the Russian blinked in confusion.

"Internship, what internship?"

"A-re? Did I forget to mention it to you the other time? I was doing internship with the DSC dance academy as a trainee instructor during my last term of study, it is a part of my graduation requirements as well. A three months internship project for my dance major, followed by the musical project work. Although, the pay for an intern is pathetic but it still did not changed the fact that I am being paid for my work done during the three months. The amount goes into my bank account once the internship program ended, so I would think my current financial status ranks a little higher than yours." Yuuri ended his speech smugly and effectively putting a stop to Viktor's insistence on paying him back for the meal just now.

"Dance major? You are majoring in dance?" Yurio suddenly spoke up from behind, reminding the duo that they had neglected the blond until now.

"Erm… yes, is there a problem?" Yuuri blinked at Yurio as he questions.

"Actually, Yuuri is double majoring in dance and flute study." Viktor sounded extremely proud as he announced the information to Yurio.

"Holy Shit… a double major? How did he find the time to practice for his skating then?" Yurio was stump silent, juggling regular school with a figure skating career is already hard enough but juggling college studies with figure skating is even worse. Moreover, the Katsudon is doing a double major and both of his majors falls under the time-consuming categories? How on earth did the Katsudon managed it all these while?

"By making time for it, relying on sheer determination and perseverance. That, and compensating for the daily lack of practice by devoting all my weekends time on it. Let's not forget the daily dosage of coffee need." Yuuri responded solemnly, before a lopsided smile graced his lips as he added. "Ultimately, it comes down to the amount of passion you have for them. Figure-skating is my dream, but music and dance is my root of origins… it would be a waste to give up on them and besides they acts as a form of stress relief for me at times so I carried on with them."

"Stress relief… seriously? How did you get so anxious before competitions if that's the case?" Viktor questions then, and that resulted in a mocking look being directed his way from Yuuri.

"How common do you think one could easily find a piano in the competition venue? As for the flute, even if I bring it along with me on competitions… where do you think I could find a place equipped with sound proof system to play the instrument and not risk disturbing another?" Yuuri throws the question back at Viktor dryly and when he caught the sheepish look on Viktor's face, he deadpan. "So, now do you see why I still get anxious before a competition?"

"Alright, I got it… really… I wasn't thinking clearly just now." Viktor hurry after Yuuri then to apologize for his thoughtless words.

"Obviously you weren't thinking. Either way, you can stop sounding so apologetic… I'm not mad at you."

"Really? You're not mad at me?" Viktor hurry to clarify, and Yuuri pressed a hand to the side of his head and said.

"Viktor, just how insecure did I make you feel? Was it the lack of initiative on my part? Please be honest with me, because I really don't gets why you would apologize to me over every little things that you said without thinking clearly."

"No… no… it's not you. I guess it's just a residue effects from what has bugged me before… you know?" Viktor responded sounding exceptionally flustered and panicky.

"…Silly you, come on. Let's head back to your room and continue the rest of the conversation in private before Yurio calls us out on the PDA again." Yuuri sigh and he beckons for Viktor to come closer to him, so they can walk next to one another while Yurio follows them from behind.

Behind the duo, Yurio whom had heard Viktor's words to Yuuri earlier somehow had come to the conclusion that Viktor's depressive snit from few months ago probably had something to do with the Katsudon getting mad and ignored the idiot altogether. So, Viktor gets paranoid each time he accidentally said something that somehow annoys the Katsudon fearing that Katsudon will ignore him again. Thus, the result of Viktor's clinging desperation to not leave Katsudon's side since their arrival in Sochi, Russia.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 14/4/17.


	49. Chapter 49

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original

Chapter 49

After arriving back at the hotel, Yurio headed for his room without a word to the duo except throwing a warning glare to remind them about no PDA until in private. Eventually, Yuuri ended up spending the night at Viktor's room again after their 'talk'.

The next day when Viktor joined Yuuri at Celestino's table in the restaurant for breakfast, the Italian American coach is no longer surprise. If anything, the man was completely unfazed by Viktor's arrival. However, the same could not be say about Yakov Feltsman – the man was forced to sit at Celestino's table because it would seem strange for him to sit alone when all his protégés had flooded over to Celestino's table for breakfast.

Mila went over to satisfy her gossiping nature, and Yuri… Yakov blamed Viktor for that because it was Viktor whom had forcefully tug Yuri to where he was sitting. Whether or not it was to prevent Viktor from getting touchy with Yuuri, Celestino had no idea but somehow it had ended up with Yuri Plisetsky seated in the middle of Yuuri and Viktor Nikiforov separating them from one another during breakfast.

The blond teen look completely disgruntled to sit in between the duo though, because that ends up with him being the focus of the Viktor's attention this particular morning.

"Geez… stop fussing over me, I'm not a bloody kid." Yurio protested at the amount of attention the duo is focusing on his eating habits.

"Yes, but you're not an adult either. That makes you a kid still in my eyes." Viktor proclaimed causing the blond to sulk further in his seat glaring at the twenty-seven year old Russian but refraining from causing a scene in public.

"Oi, Katsudon…you seriously would allow him to choose your breakfast menu without a word of protests?" Yurio questions Yuuri when he noticed the Asian simply let Viktor do as he wishes and simply just ate whatever Viktor collects for him from the buffet choice.

"Well…it's too early to argue with him on something so trivial, if this is what he wants to do … why stop him?" Yuuri shrugs easily although he was enjoying the sight of how Yurio reacts like an agitated cat that hissed when Viktor commented on what the teen should eat or should not eat for a growing teen.

Yurio only rolls his eyes at Yuuri's words, muttering something about Yuuri lets Viktor gets away with everything under his breath. Yuuri merely smiles at Yurio's comment but did not react, he thanked Viktor for the food and simply digs in. In essence, Yuuri is allowing Viktor to do as he pleases this morning – this is to compensate for the lack of PDA in public.

The duo had a nice and long discussion last night in Viktor's room, Yuuri make sure to show his love and appreciation to Viktor during the discussion. He gave the Russian a blowjob with his hands, seeing as they can't do the actual deed when they both had to skate the following night. After which, he made Viktor promise that there will be no kisses in public especially if they were in Russia. Hugs is only permissible before competition and after, and it cannot last for more than a minute. Hands holding is a big NO in public, unless they weren't in Russia.

To which, Viktor is deeply disappointed but he is also aware of how conservative his home country is on these things. Hence, his agreement to Yuuri's decisions although that makes him all the more desperate for affections when they were behind closed-door in private. So, in an attempt to curb the temptations of touching Yuuri during breakfast this morning… the silver-haired Russian had taken to sit the blond between him and Yuuri as a form of distraction. So far, it seems like the distraction had work.

The group was in the middle of devouring their breakfast meals, when the sound of someone's mobile phone ringing broke the silence. For a while, everyone's eyes landed on Viktor but the Russian only shakes his head in response to their silent query and then Yuuri stood up with his phone and walk to the side to answer the call.

"…I know the two of you are close, but is there really a need to use duplicate ring-tone for your phone as well?" Yurio asks dryly as he directed his question to Viktor.

"I swear I had no idea he's using the same song as his incoming ring-tone." Viktor deadpan, Yuuri's choice of using 'Let it Go' as his mobile ring-tone was completely unexpected.

"Sorry for the disruption, and to answer your question about why I'm using the same ring-tone as Viktor… let's just say I used to have a habit of setting my ring-tone according to whichever music Viktor used for his programs." Yuuri explained when he returned to his half-touched breakfast after the call.

"Oh Yuuri~~~ why wasn't I aware of this particular habit of yours before?" Viktor asks, trying to keep his urge of hugging Yuuri and coo-ed over how sweet Yuuri is by forcing himself to sit still in his seat.

"It is embarrassing for one, and the topic never came up in our discussion before for two." Yuuri responded, a faint tinge of pink visible on his cheeks as he explains.

"Right, sorry for cutting your conversation short… but Yuuri, is there anything you needs to tell me? Why is it that I just received a text message from the JSF informing me that we would be flying straight to Hokkaido after Sochi?" Celestino interrupts then, flashing his own mobile phone in front of Yuuri as he asks.

"Erm… I decided to help a friend of mine out in her school event, and that friend of mine just happens to have her internship with the JSF events team for the impending National Championship Tournament in Hokkaido, Sapporo. So, she decided to fly us in earlier so I could have enough time to prepare for the event I agree to help her with? I was going to ask if you want to come along for the trip actually, since our contract is technically expiring before the National Championship…" Yuuri explains somewhat sheepishly.

"Is that event a performance by chance?" Celestino raised an eyebrow at Yuuri's response as he asks.

"It's a Christmas Concert organized by the Sapporo Kitara Hall and the Sapporo University Orchestra…apparently, their solo flutist has some family emergency to attend to and had to pull out last-minute. My friend who is now on internship with the JSF events team heard of it decided to try her luck in approaching me since we were both a part of the same club in our high school. Besides, half of the orchestra members on Sapporo University Orchestra were from Chiekan so there wouldn't be a problem with the coördination even if I were to join them for the performance on a last-minute situation." Yuuri responded as he averted his eyes from Celestino, the guilt of agreeing to something without discussing with Celestino starting to creep on him causing him some discomfort.

"You are aware that the budget from JSF would not be able to cover every expenses if you are arriving an entire week earlier, right? Since a good part of it isn't even related to the National Championship…" Celestino questions Yuuri then, resisting the urge to face-palm when he thought about the hassle of having to fit Yuuri's training schedule around his rehearsals again.

"There's no need to worry for that, Kasumi says we could use the room booked for the flutist whom pulls out upon arrival at the hotel and then extend the booking of the room using the JSF budget when the Nationals approaches. The concert event is on the 22nd of Dec, and Nationals will start on 24th Dec. The timing fits perfectly, although there is a hassle of having to check out and then check in again due to the two different event budgets but that is just a small issue, right?" Yuuri sweat-dropped at the deadpan stare he received from Celestino as he awaits his Italian American coach's verdict on the issue.

"Kasumi…that's the name of the event planner assigned to us for Nationals by the JSF this year and she's your friend?" Celestino prompted, and Yuuri hurried to nod.

"So, what am I going to do to entertain myself while you're on rehearsal schedule with the orchestra?"

"…I'm sure we could work something out, maybe you could go on a Hokkaido day tour or something? That is, if you decided to tag along on the trip otherwise you have the freedom of heading back to Detroit first and later join me in Hokkaido after the concert or something?"

"…Finished your breakfast first, I'll think on it and let you know later." Celestino eventually said, feeling the start of a headache pounding away with Yuuri's latest request of him.

"Yuuri~~~" The sound of Viktor's voice jarred Yuuri out from his self-guilt trip and the Japanese skater raised his head and met the Russian's eyes over the top of Yurio's head. Almost immediately, Yuuri knows what the Russian was going to say and sigh.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure to reserve a copy of the performance for you later. Seeing as this is a fund-raising Christmas Concert event, ticket sales and official recording of the performance is bound to happen. I'll put in a reservation for the performance DVD that will be released later after the show, so there is no need for you to pester for a video recording." Yuuri spoke up before Viktor could and promised to send the DVD to Viktor as soon as it's ready.

Viktor beams and look at Yuuri with so much love and affection in his eyes that almost make Yurio gagged in response. Eventually, it was Mila who broke the atmosphere between Viktor and Yuuri by asking the question on the top of her mind.

"So, do you do these kinds of things often?"

"I beg your pardon?" Yuuri blinked at Mila as he kind of zoned out for a while and thus missed Mila's words earlier.

"The look on your coach face seems to hint that this is a common occurrence. Do you always make decisions without discussing with your coach before-hand?"

"…Erm, no… not really in the sense you are thinking. I think Celestino is more irk by the fact that he had to accommodate my rehearsal schedule than me deciding something without consulting him in advanced." Yuuri responded as he darted another glance towards his silent coach who is now typing away on his phone, most likely trying to re-adjust his own schedule to fits Yuuri.

"Still, doesn't the idea of you deciding something without going through him bugs him?" Mila asks, unable to keep her gossiping whims at bay.

"I wouldn't know since I'm not him, but usually its' not me who decides it's the school that decides. This time around though, Celestino is aware of how I intend to fit in performance opportunities around my competition period. So, I'll say this decision of mine is not completely outside of his expectation… he only wasn't expecting the JSF to include him on it." Yuuri said somewhat sheepishly, then again he wasn't expecting Kasumi to intern with JSF either.

He wasn't part of the performance the last time around because of Vic-chan's passing, although Kasumi did reaches out to him with the same request but he referred a classmate of his to help out instead. Moreover, Kasumi wasn't interning with JSF the other time around so Celestino was completely unaware of the invitation for him to come over to Hokkaido, Sapporo an entire week before the National Championship is schedule to begin.

"Mila quit your chatters and hurry up with finishing your breakfast. We are running late for morning practice already." Yakov interjected gruffly then but effectively putting a stop to Mila's endless questions and thus allowing Yuuri to finish his own breakfast in peace.

The group then approaches the rink together as a group; Celestino had dumped the charge of over-seeing Yuuri's training to Viktor who appears quite eager when the Italian American broaches the subject.

"Really…I can oversee Yuuri's training this morning?" Viktor glances over to Celestino with surprise displayed on his features, while Yuuri remained unfazed by Celestino's suggestion.

"Yes, well… just don't change any of his programs. Mind you, I am still his coach for now… and you don't take over until next season anyway. I just need some time away to make some phone calls; your job is just to supervise his training until I got back." Celestino warned before separating himself from the group heading for the rink.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare at me all morning?" Yuuri felt his eyebrow twitching as he does his warm-up on the ice, with Viktor observing him by the side of the rink.

"Well… Celestino did ask me to supervise you, so I'm taking the chance to look at your training in detail." Viktor pressed a finger to his lips as he responded; he had his thinking pose on and Yuuri sensing him trying to say something hurriedly interrupted the Russian by commenting.

"Remember you can't change Celestino's choreography, so whatever you are thinking… kindly keep it to yourself."

Viktor pouted in disappointment, but made no objections to Yuuri's words because he knows that is the truth.

"Don't look so disappointed; if you really wish to change Celestino's choreography… maybe you can think on it and make it into a new exhibition program for me come next season?" Yuuri suggested then.

"I thought you were going to do my FS this year as your exhibition program next season?" Viktor asks then looking surprised and confused by Yuuri's words.

"We can do the duet-to version of it for GPF Barcelona, but used the new exhibition program for the qualifying tournament? Maybe, we could alternate the exhibition program … anyway; we can discuss this in details after this season comes to an end." Yuuri eventually said, shaking his head to rid his mind of the exhibition routine for next season as he concentrated on his program for this season instead.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 15/4/17.


	50. Chapter 50

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original

Chapter 50

"…Viktor, can you please wipe that look of disappointment off your face? It's very rude to Cao Bin otherwise." Yuuri stood in front of the twenty-seven year old Russian as he tried to get the man to stop looking so dejected and start getting ready for the awards ceremony in a few minutes time.

"I know… but I can't help but wish you were the one on the podium instead." Viktor pouted as he responded.

"…I know you're disappointed that I didn't made the podium, but Cao Bin deserves the Bronze medal. His SP scores weren't that bad overall, he only ranked 4th because he messed up the landing of one of his jumps in his program. However, he makes up for it in the FS… his scores was at least fifteen points ahead of me in the FS. Therefore, it is really no wonder that he ended up taking bronze instead of me. Now, would you quit being childish and wipe that look off your face?"

"Actually, I'm more surprise that you aren't taking this harder…" Viktor then sighed and said to Yuuri, the childish pout finally missing from his features.

"I admitted I'm disappointed to a certain extent, but at this point I'm just glad that I didn't end up making a fool of myself. Besides, compared to the other time whereby I completed bomb the entire thing and ended up last in place… ranking 4th on the overall for my 'first' GPF isn't so bad." Yuuri explained his lack of dejection at his own results to the Russian then, the only reason he was so depressed the other time is partly due to Vic-chan's death and his results being the final outcome of his self-destruction. This time around though, there is no self-destruction on the ice and so his results is a reflection of his performance at his current best level.

Yakov Feltsman look over to Yuuri and nodded with gratitude when Viktor finally seems ready to get a move on to the awards ceremony. Viktor plastered on the smile he reserves for public and media attention as he pressed a kiss to his newly attained gold medal while posing for pictures with the other two medalist of the Grand Prix Series.

Yuuri was content in watching Viktor from the corner where he was standing, so he was quite surprised to find a few reporters swamping him when he was about to turn and go. Morooka Hisashi from TV Asahi News he was mentally prepared for, but he was most definitely not expecting reporters of NHK News and Fuji TV to interview him at all. Therefore, he was actually caught off-guard that he nearly froze when he found a total of three microphones being shoved into his face.

"Thank You but is it possible to move the microphones a little further away, they are a little too close for my comfort." Yuuri started sounding quite apologetic as he told the three reporters from his home country.

"Is this distance better?" The reporter, a female from NHK News asks then.

"Yes, that's much better. Thank You." Yuuri nodded as he smiled a small smile at the female reporter interviewing him.

The questions asks were about the standard questions one usually would ask someone taking part in a major competition. Questions such as how Yuuri had felt about his results from the event, coming in 4th for his first Grand Prix Finals since his senior début. Other questions includes his expiring contract with Celestino, and what are his plans on that… and the circulating rumors on how he might consider retiring after the season.

For a while, Yuuri was confuse until his mind caught him up with the fact that his past self might have accidentally gave off the vibe of an impending retirement during past interviews.

"You can rest assured that I would not be retiring yet, and that I would announced it officially when it happens." Yuuri told the reporters with patience as he awaits the next question to come, he kept his expression neutral and blank as he answer questions for the media. This is the best he could do, seeing as he wasn't Viktor whom could just smile and bluff his way through. Yuuri only smiles when he deems it necessary such as being praised for his achievements or performances, otherwise he kept to his neutral expression when handling media attention.

"Sorry to go off-topic for a minute, but news has it that you would be performing as a guest performer during the upcoming Christmas Concert at Sapporo Kitara Hall. Is that true?" Just then, the reporter from Fuji TV asks and while the question was outside of Yuuri's expectation, it wasn't exactly unwelcome.

"Yes, it has been confirmed that I'll be performing at the Sapporo Kitara Concert Hall on the 22nd of December as a guest performer together with the Sapporo University Philharmonic Orchestra." Yuuri heaved a sigh in relief as the interview was steered towards the Christmas Concert event instead of centering on his figure skating career plans.

Although he was a little surprised by how someone obviously send to cover sports event would end up interviewing him on a totally unrelated topic, but he was glad for the change of topic that he went along good-naturedly with it. It wasn't until the end of the interview session that he finally noted the oddness of it.

A quick search on-line later solved his dilemma, Fuji TV recently had a change of staff in the news department. Apparently, they hadn't managed to find a new staff to handle sports reporting and had used reporters from other fields to fill the post on temporary basis. The reporter interviewing him earlier on is one that specialized in covering cultural and arts events, hence the interview conducted spontaneously on the upcoming Christmas Charity Concert at Kitara Concert Hall in Sapporo, Hokkaido.

Yuuri's phone buzzed with an incoming message then, and a quick glance had Yuuri's eyes nearly bulged out. It was a message from Kasumi with a thumbs up icon, thanking him for the spontaneous interview did with Fuji TV during the GPF event because the concert tickets was completely seized up within the span of an hour after the news came on locally.

"Yuuri?" When Viktor finally managed to escape from the press conference with his newly attained gold medal dangling in front of his chest, he found Yuuri staring dumbfounded at the mobile phone in hand outside his hotel room door in a daze-like way.

"Oh… you're back." Yuuri slowly shifted his eyes from the phone to the figure in front of him, and murmured.

"Yes, I'm back… care to enlighten me on the reason you are staring at your phone with such a dumb-founded look on your face?" Viktor prompted, his brows furrow in concern as he glances at the still daze-like Yuuri.

"No… nothing really, I'm just surprise by the after effect of a spontaneous interview I did with Fuji TV on something totally unrelated to figure-skating and yet garnered such an overwhelming response from the public that I failed to expect." Yuuri shakes his head still reeling from the disbelief of how his randomly given interview could have resulted in the complete sold out of the concert tickets within the span of an hour.

To Yuuri's surprise, Viktor laughed out loud at his words. Before Yuuri could react, the door to Viktor's room was kick closed by the heels of the Russian and he was once again trapped in the Russian's arms.

"Oh… Yuuri, do you know how adorable you look when you're so oblivious?" Viktor murmurs as he hugs Yuuri tightly savoring the moment after being forced to stay apart from his beloved for the entire day.

"Viktor…I know you are carving for skin-ship contact, but care to loosen your hug a little. You are going to cut off my air supply if you continue to squeeze me." Yuuri struggled somewhat as he voiced his protest mildly, to signal to the Russian about his discomfort.

"Oh… sorry, I… I just missed you so much." Viktor hurried to let go when he realized how tight he has held Yuuri before responding with a crestfallen look on his face.

"It's fine, I miss your hugs as well… I just weren't as desperate for them as you do. Anyway, what do you mean by me being oblivious?" Yuuri then steered the conversation topic back to Viktor's earlier statement.

"Well… you are aware that you have fans right?" Viktor prompted and waited for Yuuri's nod of acknowledgement before continuing his elaboration of his earlier statement. "Right, and you basically just announced in front of TV to the audience and supporters of figure skating that you would be performing in Sapporo, Hokkaido for that Charity Christmas Concert. What do you think your fans will do?"

"…Surely, you aren't suggesting my fans from figure skating career will buy tickets for the concert just to see me performs on stage?" Yuuri asks sounding slightly nervous.

"Of course they would if they truly support you. I know I will if my schedule allows me to do so, but unfortunately I'm not… Besides, you are not one to broadcast your presence on social media so your fans does not have a lot of channels to reach you and gets to know you. However, your announcement just now basically provides your loyal fans an alternative channel to know more about you. While the number is low at this point of time, but you do have fans whom supports both your figure skating career and musician career." Viktor smile his heart-throbbing smile at Yuuri as he said.

"Are you talking about yourself?" Yuuri raised an eyebrow up as he questions Viktor on the fans supporting him both on ice and on stage thing.

"Well, I won't deny that I'm one of them… but I'm sure there are more of them out there. Probably with time you will be able to discover them yourself." Viktor said these to Yuuri before changing the subject to the events of the next day.

The following day, 13th of December is the last day of the GPF event. Basically, it consists of the exhibition gala that will take place at the rink in the afternoon and then more press conference to attend for the medalists. As for the non-medalists, they are generally encouraged to mingle and interact among themselves and some might be interviewed by local press and local TV reporters.

If the exhibition gala is an event organized for the media and press, the banquet that will be held at the hotel ballroom at a later timing is no doubt meant for the sponsors to interact and mingle with the competitors. It is a chance for competitors to meet with representatives from their existing sponsoring companies to deepen their collaboration ties, or they could also make use of the opportunity to get acquainted with new potential sponsors. Henceforth, coaches tends to force their students to attend the banquet at most if not all the time.

"Yuuri, you wouldn't skip out on the banquet right?" Viktor asks as they cuddle one another in bed later.

"…I don't know… I guess it depends on how adamant Celestino is at making me attend it tomorrow. The last time around, he makes sure I attend it because he was hoping that the banquet would shake me out from my depressive state… but I think we both know how well that works out. This time around, I'm not depressed… so he might not insists on me attending it." Yuuri was telling Viktor before he falters at the sight of a pitiful Viktor Nikiforov.

"What's with that expression?" Yuuri sweat-dropped as he caught sight of the pitiful look on the Russian's face.

"Please don't leave me alone to the mercy of the sponsors…" Viktor half-wailed as he pleaded with Yuuri, while a part of him had hoped for a repeat of having a drunk Yuuri humping him and requesting for him to visit Hasetsu… another part of him was wary of it. He knew how affectionate he could be at times, and there is a chance that he might 'out' their relationship with Yuuri completely drunk off his ass.

The thought of the repercussions that might occur if that were to happen makes Viktor hesitate slightly but he didn't feel like attending the banquet without Yuuri. Hence the pleading for Yuuri to attend the banquet, he just have to watch both their alcohol intake during the banquet – Viktor silently vowed.

"… Fine, I'll attend the banquet but please keep an eye on my alcohol intake. You know how I gets when I'm drunk… and I really don't think us getting drunk together is a good idea." Yuuri eventually agreed to attend the banquet, causing Viktor to beam brightly in response before tackling him down for a kiss.

The duo fool around for sometime on the bed before their attention were drawn towards their respective vibrating phones. Viktor's phone is vibrating from the dozen of messages received from his fans congratulating him on his newest gold medal, while Yuuri's phone is a call from Phichit.

Yuuri accepted Phichit's call without much thought, it wasn't until he heard the gasp on Phichit's side did he finally realized that Viktor is in view since the man was like directly beside him. Yuuri could only thanked his lucky stars that Viktor wasn't cuddling him now as the man is busy dealing with communications with members of the Viktor Nikiforov official fan club.

"Where are you, Yuuri? Is that Viktor Nikiforov beside you by the way?" Phichit gushes out in a rush after he had gotten over his initial shock at seeing the Russian next to Yuuri.

"…Erm, yes… that's Viktor Nikiforov in the flesh." Yuuri sweat-dropped as he answered, purposely avoid touching on the subject of whose room he was in.

"Wow… so the two of you does actually hangs out together?" Phichit was very curious to find out how close Yuuri and Viktor were, thus he makes no attempts to hide that he was fishing around for information.

"…Yes, we do hangs out from time to time." Yuuri responded, and this wasn't a lie since they now do not have the luxury of seeing one another on daily basis.

"Either way, help me congrats him for the gold medal he had once again attained for this year's GPF. Speaking of, congrats to you for coming in 4th in the first GPF you participated." Phichit then shift the focus of his conversation back to Yuuri as he said.

"Thank You, although you can convey your well-wishes to Viktor directly. Don't think I don't know… the two of you has been messaging each other on Facebook and speaking about me – isn't that so?" Yuuri throws out without batting an eyelid causing Phichit to yelp in a startling way.

"…How… how did you know?"

"Oh… I know a lot of things you have told him in fact, don't you know he has the habit of speaking his mind when he's conversing with me?" Yuuri smirked then, enjoying the flustered look on his young friend's features through the video call as he spoke.

Just then, Viktor seems to have finish dealing with whichever is happening on his side and turns his attention back to Yuuri. Upon the sight of Phichit on the other end of the video call, the Russian greeted the Thai skater enthusiastically.

"Ah… Viktor, congrats on your newly attained gold medal. I just remember I had something on, I'll speak to you next time – Yuuri!" Phichit gushes out in a rush before ending the call abruptly, causing Viktor to blink stupidly at the screen before shifting questioning eyes to Yuuri.

"What was that?" Viktor asks looking confused over Phichit's abrupt end of the video call session.

"Nothing my dear… that was Phichit getting flustered over the idea that I may have caught on to his ploy of making money off the sales of my pictures that he had snapped of me over the years thinking me oblivious to it all." Yuuri commented, before turning his eyes on Viktor and asks. "He didn't try to sell you any pictures of mine, did he?"

"Erm… no, that he didn't ask of me. He only requests for me to take some pictures of you skating in your costume…" Viktor responded with a quick shake of head to assure Yuuri that he didn't pay Phichit a cent for those pictures and videos he had managed to get his hands on via Phichit on-line.

"Don't send them to him at all. I do not want to end up being featured in the school's latest issue of the newsletter, again." Yuuri said in a warning tone of voice, while he usually wouldn't care if he is feature in the school's newsletter. This time around it's different, because the upcoming issue would be focusing on the top ten male and female students on campus fully based on the popularity level survey conducted among the students' population.

For Yuuri, it was one thing to get feature in the school's newsletter to promote an upcoming event but totally another to get featured and interviewed over something silly such as his popularity level among the students' population. He might be a student under the performing arts' faculty but he certainly wasn't aiming to launch his career in the showbiz industry hence he usually avoid being in the limelight as much as possible.

The last time around such campaign was held in school, he was able to escape attention and stay hidden in the background. That was before Phichit's arrival to Detroit, after Phichit's arrival… things changed. For one, at first only the school board and management team is aware of Yuuri's figure-skating career but after Phichit's constant posts on instagram about it – nearly everyone in school knows of it within the span of a year after Phichit's arrival to Detroit.

If that was all to it, Yuuri might not have minded so much since it does helps to save the hassle of having to explain his absence reasons to his classmates. However, after the leakage of one of his official skating pictures from Phichit's instagram – he ended up being featured in the school's newsletter making the headline. People are commenting how different he looks on and off the ice, and if he made an extra effort at styling himself on daily basis – his popularity level among female students may rise to a whole new level. At the end of that school year, during the annual UNIKII popularity survey… his name suddenly appears in the top 25 lists.

Last year, after the 'Battle of the Bands' held in school where he was part of Kanade's background dancer team… his name rises again in the popularity survey chart listing him among the top 20. Yuuri had a feeling if Phichit leaks anymore of his official figure skating performance pictures to the school's population, his name will rise again on the chart putting him on the top 10 thus garnering more attention from his school-mates'. He thought about how Kanade and Haruka was always mobbed by female students and shudders, that was something he wouldn't want to meet with at all.

"Yuuri?" Viktor started sounding concern when he noticed how gloomy Yuuri had looked, for a while fearing that Yuuri had gotten lost in his own mind.

"Viktor… kiss me." Yuuri suddenly raised his eyes to Viktor Nikiforov and requested.

"Gladly, but why the sudden requests?" Viktor beams at Yuuri's request before cocking his head to the side in a quizzical way.

"I want to forget, makes me forget…" Yuuri says before he took the initiative and kisses Viktor instead.

"Yuuri… can I?" Viktor paused when he realized he was in the midst of undressing Yuuri, it seems like their kisses had gotten out of control again.

"Well… I'm not the one having to skate tomorrow, just don't go overboard with it. I would appreciate the feeling of being able to walk tomorrow." Yuuri responded with a glazed look in his eyes, his cheeks flushed with red and sounding absolutely breathless.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 16/4/17.


	51. Chapter 51

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original

Chapter 51

Yuuri and Viktor spend the earlier part of their morning together in bed until Yurio came knocking on Viktor's door looking for the twenty-seven year old. With Yurio's arrival, Yuuri hurried to make himself decent by borrowing Viktor's shower. Otherwise, anyone would just have to take one look at Yuuri and knows just what exactly the duo had been up to last night.

Yuuri stepped out from the attached bathroom to Viktor's hotel room clad in nothing but the hotel's bathrobe.

"Katsudon…what are you… never mind, don't tell me." Yurio's eyes widen at the sight of Yuuri coming out from the bathroom clad in nothing but the hotel's bathrobe and felt the sudden urge to bash his head on something. He really should have known the Katsudon would stay the night in Viktor's room, why didn't he call before coming by?

"Viktor, can you do me a favor? Go to my room and collect some clothes for me? My room card-key is in my Japan's team jacket." Yuuri just smiles apologetically to Yurio, before turning to Viktor and requested.

"Sure… anything for you." Viktor snapped his zone-out mind back to reality, and beams at Yuuri. Being an early bird, he was up and awake a good hour before Yurio drop by and was already dressed for the day ahead. While his logical sense of mind had told him to wake Yuuri, he had against his better judgement allows the Asian to sleep in instead. Thus, resulting in this particular scenario. Thankfully though, Yurio had already knew of their relationship with one another so it wasn't so terrible to have the teen witness such a sight.

Yuuri, like Viktor was very much relieved that the person whom drops by is Yurio. At least, with Yurio… Yuuri knows the teen won't teased him as much compared to Chris. The sheer idea of Chris being the one finding him in Viktor's room clad in nothing but a bathrobe makes Yuuri's face burns.

"I'm not one to gossip if that's what you are thinking." Yurio suddenly spoke up, jarring the Asian back to reality.

Yuuri blinked before shaking his head in response, "I know… I'm not worried about you going around telling people of what you had witness just now. I… I'm just thankful it wasn't Chris or your red-head rink-mate that drops by…"

"How long do you supposed that old man will take with a simple task of collecting clothes for you from your room?" Yurio asks still staring at his phone browsing on the net instead of facing Yuuri, the sight of the Katsudon clad in nothing but a bathrobe was incredibly uncomfortable for the fifteen year old blond skater.

"Frankly speaking, I had no idea. Let's just hope he doesn't dally too much and runs into Celestino instead." Yuuri sweat-dropped at the image of Viktor running into Celestino in his room while rummaging his suitcase for clothes.

Honestly, if Yuuri weren't so particular about sharing underwear with another… he would have just borrowed something from Viktor's wardrobe and make do with it. He cursed inwardly at himself for not planning ahead for such a situation arising, and did not have the insight to bring with him his own underwear before dropping by Viktor's room yesterday evening. Then again, he wasn't expecting that he would do the deed with Viktor last night either…

While Yurio was timing how long it would take for Viktor to collect clothes for the Katsudon, the twenty-seven year old Russian was surveying Yuuri's hotel room in detail. This is the first time he was allowed entry into the twenty-three year old Japanese's room hence his curiosity. The man only started to move towards Yuuri locked suitcase when he had satisfied his curiosity with the decor of Yuuri's hotel room itself.

Despite the suitcase being locked with the TSA pass code lock, Viktor had no problems guessing the correct combination to the pass code. Knowing Yuuri, it can only be something of relations to him. Hence, it took Viktor only three tries to smoothly unlock the suitcase. He first tried their engagement date which is a day before GPF Barcelona next year, when the suitcase TSA lock fails to click open – the Russian tried another set of code he could think of. The second set of code he tried was the date of their registration of marriage to one another in France, when it fails to match either… he went for the third date in mind. The date they moved back to Hasetsu and settled into their own house.

It was a close shave for Viktor and Celestino to cross path, because no more than five-minute after Viktor left Yuuri's room. Celestino came over only to find that Yuuri was not in his room, the next thing Celestino did was to call Yuuri on the Asian's mobile. Celestino's call came in the moment Yuuri re-activated his phone from its' switch-off state, he turned off the phone last night to avoid anymore interruption during the night.

At first, Yuuri fears the worse that Celestino had called him up because Viktor was snooping around in his room but when he saw Viktor re-entering the room – he knew Celestino must have had another reason for calling. Signaling for Viktor to set his clothes down, he answered Celestino's call.

"Yes, Celestino?" Yuuri started as he collected the pile of clothes Viktor collected for him, switched the call into speaker-mode and then carried the pile of clothes with the phone lying atop of the pile into the bathroom to change.

"Yuuri, I would not be accompanying you over to Hokkaido for the Nationals. I would be heading back to Detroit to oversee Jeremy and Phichit's training after Sochi, Russia. I had spoken to my ex-student Marcus, and he had agreed to go with you on the trip to Hokkaido for your Nationals." Celestino was telling Yuuri over the phone connection, and since it's on speaker mode the duo outside the bathroom heard it as well.

"Okay, I got it. By Marcus… I'm assuming you meant Marcus Lopez?" Yuuri had a clear idea of who's the Marcus that Celestino was speaking of but just want to double clarify, since he knew a few people going by the name of Marcus over the past years.

"Yes, either way you will get to meet him later together with that junior of yours he's chaperoning for Sochi GPF this year." Celestino was telling Yuuri, and then he told Yuuri that they would be meeting Marcus and that junior of Yuuri's for lunch.

"I guess, I'll see the two of you later at the exhibition gala then. I need to head back and meet up with Celestino now." Yuuri said after he finished dressing up in the bathroom and headed back out to re-join the Russian duo.

Viktor pouted at the idea of separating from Yuuri for the time being, causing Yurio to roll his eyes at his idiotic behavior.

"Geez, get a grip of yourself – old man! It's just a few hours, it won't kills you." Yurio scoffed at Viktor when the twenty-seven year old starts directing puppy eyes to Yuuri after the Asian announced his decision to leave and meet up with Celestino.

"…Viktor, behave… I will be back in time for the exhibition gala. Seeing as Marcus Lopez is chaperoning Kitamura Eriko, and Eriko is the bronze medalist for Junior Ladies category… she is involves in the exhibition gala. It's now 10 a.m., even with the lunch meeting … I expect my return no later than 1.30 p.m. Surely, you can survive three hours or so without me being around?" Yuuri said patiently as he gave the older Russian man a hug of comfort.

"Can't I go along with you?" Viktor implore as he pulls on his best pitiful look in his arsenal.

"…Unfortunately no, you had press conferences to attend to before the exhibition gala so you need to start getting ready for them." Yuuri responded, giving Viktor a chaste kiss on the cheeks before he leaves the Russian's room.

"Yurio, you can kick him if he gets too annoying for your liking." Yuuri patted the blond on the shoulder lightly as he whispered before his leaving the room.

"…" Yurio's face redden somewhat and he yelled at Viktor to stop dallying when the man attempted to question him on what Yuuri had said to him before leaving.

"Yuuri-sempai!" The fourteen year old girl waved enthusiastically at Yuuri when he appeared in the hotel lobby.

"Hi, it's been a long time – Eriko-chan. How are you doing?" Yuuri greeted politely as he reaches the trio waiting for him at the lobby of the hotel.

"I'm good, thanks for asking." Kitamura Eriko beams, before pouting at Yuuri as she pointed out that Yuuri has not been coming by to watch her performance.

Yuuri sweat-dropped as he apologized, "Sorry, Eriko-chan… but I've been busy with my own performance."

"No fair, you watched Yuri Plisetsky performance… I know because I saw you in the spectator stand." Eriko protested, a mischievous smile tugging at the corner of her lips when she noticed Yuuri was starting to lose his calm composure while scrambling to find a plausible reason to explain his not staying to watch her performance.

"Eriko…" Marcus Lopez, whom had been silently observing all these while finally put a stop to Eriko's antics before turning to Yuuri and did a self-introduction.

"You must be Yuuri Katsuki, I have heard a lot from Tsukishiro Asami and Celestino about you. Kindly ignore Eriko's protest as well, she's just messing with you."

"Ah… Marcus Lopez, I presume? I've heard a lot about you from Andrea and Emily in school." Yuuri, glad to escape Eriko's teasing hurried to acknowledge Marcus's words.

Upon Yuuri's words, Marcus Lopez then remembers – his sister and cousin were both studying in UNIKII Detroit Campus. Andrea, his younger sister being a classmate to Yuuri majoring in Flute as well and seems to have work together with Yuuri on multiple performance before. Emily, his cousin, on the other hand shared the home rink of Detroit Skating Club with Yuuri Katsuki.

"How are they recently? I haven't been calling home to check in on them…" Marcus asks Yuuri then.

"They are doing well, from what I know Andrea is now involved in the winner recital for the American protegé Music Talent Competition 2015, Fall Season. So, she is supposedly in New York by now. As for Emily, she was cast in the Musical on Ice project as one of the main female lead character so I assumed she is busy rehearsing at this point of time?" Yuuri wasn't so certain of the musical rehearsal schedule as Phichit didn't think to speak with him on the musical last night during their video call conversation.

"Oh… the musical, I didn't know DSC is looking at the prospective of doing ice-shows now too." Marcus then said, directing his words to Celestino on his other side.

"We weren't thinking of it, this show is a project brought to us by Yuuri and his project group-mates. It only make sense for the DSC to involves itself since they are going to use our rink facility and borrowing skaters from us for the show." Celestino commented dryly as he responded to Marcus question.

"Well… think of it this way, if the show is well-received by the public. It might provide the DSC with another route of income source. For all you know, it may help to bring in more students for the DSC skating academy as well." Marcus patted Celestino on the shoulder as he said.

The group of four then went for the brunch session, since Eriko has press conferences to attend before the exhibition gala took place. Yuuri make sure to watch Eriko skates her exhibition program this time around, and that is exactly where Viktor found Yuuri later when he ended his own press conferences session.

"Hm.m… is that your junior skating on the ice now?" Viktor asks, startling Yuuri out from his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh… yes, she is… and in a way she is my junior from all angles when you think of it. She's currently training her figure-skating under Tsukishiro Asami, whom under official record was my coach in Junior days. On top of it, let's not forget that she's also studying in Chiekan which I graduated from and she is also a member of the school wind band. She plays the Trumpet though… still I can't believe she is using the compulsory piece of music for this year's All Japan Band Competition for her exhibition program. Haven's she gotten sick of listening to it yet?"

"Actually no, because I wasn't able to take part in the Nationals this year so I figured the least I could do was to skate to it." Eriko's voice caused Yuuri to jump slightly, and he sweat-dropped when he realized the music for Eriko's exhibition has long ended and the girl was now standing in front of him and waiting for him to introduce Viktor to her.

"Right, Viktor… this is Kitamura Eriko. My junior from high school, and figure skating…" Yuuri sighed and resigned himself to the idea of introducing the duo to one another.

"Hi Viktor, nice to meet you." Eriko smiles but made no requests for signature or commemorative photograph from the Russian.

When Viktor turn to Yuuri in surprise, Yuuri sweat-dropped and told Viktor that Eriko is a fan of his… hence her lack of reaction to Viktor's presence. After which, Yuuri turn back to Eriko and asks.

"I heard you are flying to Hokkaido, Sapporo first? Any particular reason about why you are not flying straight to Kanto? From what I know, the Nationals for Junior Category is taking place in Ibaraki this year from 21st to 23rd Dec."

"Hm..m…? Oh… that, Chiekan is having a joint band practice over winter vacation with a local high school in Sapporo, Hokkaido between 16th to 18th December, 2015. We are having a joint school Wind Ensemble Band Concert for the New Year in Suntory Concert Hall of Tokyo, coming next year."

"Is Marcus going to run around in circles after you like what Celestino used to do with me?" Yuuri asks raising his eyebrow in question as he regards Eriko.

"Not really, he's staying in Hokkaido for your sake. Coach Asami will be accompanying me to Ibaraki after my combined band practice session in Sapporo. Don't you dare to question if I could handle the stress level of both figure skating and band practice commitments, I don't see any reason I can't do it when you managed the impossible yourself. Besides, unlike you I haven't actually decided which path I want to go for my future… and I wasn't competing in both music and figure skating like you used to do in high school. The only music competition I did was the All Japan Band Competition which is only possible with a group performance, and I could pull out of the competing team any minute and it would not affects things much."

"…No need to get so defensive over it, I'm not questioning your ability to handle the stress." Yuuri commented dryly.

"Oh… then what were you trying to say just now." Eriko fell silent and ducks her head in embarrassment of her over-reacting response earlier on.

"I was going to ask what was the date for the combined school concert…"Yuuri responded dryly.

"2nd of January 2016, why?" Eriko asks sounding curious as she responded to Yuuri's query on the concert date.

"Hm..m… depending on my schedule, I might decided to drop by for moral support." Yuuri smiles as he patted Eriko on the head gently before the girl was pull aside by Morooka Hisashi for an interview.

"Katsuki-san, I'll be looking forward to that upcoming concert event of yours in Sapporo. All the best for your impending Nationals as well." Morooka Hisashi told Yuuri before he turns his attention back to Eriko's interview session to come.

Yuuri sweat-dropped at the thought of the reporter buying ticket for the concert, but he knows it is highly likely for that scenario to happen since the man was bound to send for the National Championship by TV Asahi for coverage of the event in Sapporo, Hokkaido.

"… Well, at least I know who to expect on 22nd December in Kitara Concert Hall among the audience crowds. Morooka-san being one, and I bet Minami-kun will attend dragging his coach along for the ride." Yuuri sighed out loud and momentarily hoped that Minami's coach could keep him in check during the concert. After all, unlike a pop concert – a classical music concert is mostly filled with quiet audience crowd who is mostly there to appreciate the music.

Yuuri humored Viktor by giving the man a loose hug for a minute before the man stepped on to the ice and performed his exhibition program. Despite knowing that there will be official videos released at a later point of time, Yuuri still choose to record down Viktor's performance on his mobile with the intention to re watch it later.

After the exhibition gala, there was one hour of break time in between before the banquet is to take place at the hotel's ballroom. The one hour grace period is for the exhibition participants to change into their formal wear, but Viktor spend the hour ravishing Yuuri's lips in the privacy of his room instead.

It once again took Yurio hammering on Viktor's door to snap the man out of it, and to speed things along Yuuri decided to wait for Viktor outside his room with Yurio instead of staying in the room. Celestino was with Marcus and Eriko, when Viktor approaches the ballroom entrance with Yuuri and Yurio in tow. Yakov was already in the banquet hall with Mila waiting for Viktor to show up impatiently then, and the minute Viktor entered the banquet hall he was drag off by Yakov to meet the various representatives from his sponsors.

Yurio was about to heave a sigh in relief that he wasn't a part of it, when he felt himself being pulled along by the one and only Viktor Nikiforov.

"What the hell are you doing pulling me along to meet your sponsors?" Yurio whispered harshly as he was pull along by Viktor.

"If I have to suffer, you are going to suffer along with me." Viktor flashes a beaming smile at the sullen teen he had pulled along with him, and proceeds to introduce his wonderful junior to his various sponsors awaiting him in a corner of the banquet hall.

Yuuri sweat-dropped at the sight of Viktor's actions, and boy was he ever so glad that there are no potential sponsors awaiting him in this banquet. His sponsors are mostly Japanese companies that would rather wait to ambush him after the National Championship event, most of the time. Either that, or they would send along their intention to sponsor him directly to the JSF and requests for a meeting with him through the official channels.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 17/4/17.


	52. Chapter 52

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original

Chapter 52

Yuuri glances around his surrounding and wonders what on earth possessed him to agree to come for the banquet. He had absolutely nothing to do in here, Viktor was busy introducing Yurio to his sponsors and Eriko was mingling with other rival friends of hers' from the junior ladies' category. Celestino and Marcus were engrossed in their own conversation, most likely Celestino is giving Marcus a run-through of his training menu since Marcus is going to stand-in as his temporary coach during the Nationals.

Being bored, Yuuri ended up indulging himself with the champagne beverages within his reach while he keep his eyes on the crowd. Twice, he had to step in and intercepted some tipsy guests from putting their advances on the under-aged Eriko. Eventually he was so bored out of his mind that he actually intercepted Chris attempt at getting Yurio to try tasting champagne.

"Chris, may I remind you that Yurio is not of drinking age yet?" Yuuri hurried across the hall and removed the champagne flute offered from Chris and drinking the beverage himself.

"Seriously, isn't it Viktor's job to look after his junior? Why are you doing it for him?" Chris had a look of incredulity when his attempt at getting Yuri Plisetsky to try to get a taste of champagne was foil by the suddenly appeared Yuuri Katsuki.

"Seeing as Viktor is occupy and unavailable to intercept you himself, I decided to do him the favor instead. I am after all free as you can see…" Yuuri responded, it is clear that none of the representatives from sponsoring companies had tried to approach him and all he had done this evening was going around intercepting drinks and fending off tipsy suitors going after Eriko.

"…Oi Katsudon, I don't need you to fight my battles for me." Yurio protested from where Yuuri was shielding him from Chris.

"I know, but I'm bored so allow me to find something to entertain myself." Yuuri shot back at Yurio nonchalantly.

"…Do you always poke your nose into another's business merely because you are bore out of your mind?" Yurio sounded quite incredulous when he voice his doubt across to the Japanese skater whom appears to take over Viktor's role at playing 'dad' to him now.

"Usually no… but I think I'm a little high and tipsy from all that champagne so…" Yuuri shrugged nonchalantly as he responded to Yurio's query.

"Oh my… how unexpected of you to behave so boldly, are you perhaps drunk?" Chris cock his head quizzically then as he asks Yuuri.

Yuuri scrunched up his nose for a while, before shaking his head in a negative response. "Nope, I remained affirmed with my assessment that I'm only tipsy, not drunk. I'm not slurring my words, am I?" Yuuri asks back in return, raising an eyebrow in a challenging way.

"Oh… so you're the type that gets bolder after a drink or two! I'd heard from your room-mate in Detroit that you are good at dancing. So, why don't we have a challenge over who can dance better?" Chris smirked as he suggested, trying to bait Yuuri into agreeing.

"…" Yurio was silent now as he watched Yuuri closely, wondering if the Katsudon would really takes up the challenge.

"…I wouldn't say I'm real good, but I am quite confident about my dancing ability." Yuuri eventually said, and hence his taking up Chris challenge.

At first Viktor was zoning out from the conversation going on around him between the sponsors, he would plastered on his business smile and nod along their words every now and then in a way that conned the representatives into false comfort. When in actuality, Viktor had no clues on what was exactly being said during the one-sided conversation. Why pay attention when Yakov is around to fill him in later, Viktor was thinking.

"What on earth are they doing?" Viktor heard one of the representative mutters and follows the direction of their eyes and end up gaping at what he found.

"Yurio… what's going on?" Viktor grabbed Yurio who was now stepping back from Yuuri, and asks in a stunned like way.

"Chris challenge the Katsudon into a dance-off…" Yurio was still reeling from how different the Katsudon's acts under the alcohol influence. 

"Huh? Chris challenge Yuuri, but why?" Viktor was confuse, the other time around it was the drunk Yuuri challenging Yurio into a dance-off but the reason behind it was Yurio's insulting remarks directed at Yuuri in the bathroom. This time around, that situation did not happen and Yuuri weren't too depressed to drown himself with champagne hence Viktor was hardly expecting the banquet event to take a turn for the extreme as before. Now though, it seems the dance-off battle is still happening but instead of Yuuri challenging Yurio, it somehow ended up with Chris challenging Yuuri instead? How did the banquet event ended up making a turn in this direction?

"Don't Ask Me – I Don't Know Either!" Yurio snapped at Viktor, he too, was completely bewildered by the sudden turn of events. Hell, he wasn't even expecting the Katsudon to agree to Chris challenge of a dance-off battle.

"Oh boy…" Viktor murmured as he kept his eyes on the duo that started dancing without any background music. At least, it was without any music at first… that is, until a group of musician decided to gate-crash the party and provided the duo with live acoustic music.

"How much did Yuuri drink tonight?" Viktor was frowning as he takes in the sight of Yuuri slips into a break-dance sequence while Chris trying to mimic Yuuri's movements.

"At least fifteen flutes from what I could gauge… but I don't think he's pissed off drunk yet though. His speech ability remains clear so I'll say he's only a little tipsy for now." Yurio glances over to where he had last seen the Katsudon hovering about, which is directly beside the champagne table and counted fifteen empty flutes. Alright, maybe sixteen if he count the one that Yuuri intercepted from Chris mere minutes ago.

"Was it just me, or did a group of musicians just gate-crash the banquet?" Just then, the Chinese skater Cao Bin who has gone about the hall trying to avoid being drag into the dance-off fiasco spoke up drawing the Russian duo's attention.

"I think so…although I had no idea where they sprang up from either." Viktor commented while still keeping his eyes on the tipsy but not drunk Yuuri.

"I know where they came from though…" Suddenly, Kitamura Eriko's voice interjected itself into the trio standing near the back of the hall.

"Eriko-chan? How did you know where the group of musicians came from though?" Viktor turn his eyes towards the junior of his beloved Yuuri as he asks.

"There's a wedding banquet going on next door, and they were actually the string quartet invited to play for the wedding banquet. However, when they passes by and witness the dance-off challenge they decided to make some efforts to spice things up a little." Eriko sweat-dropped as she explained the reason behind the musicians' decision to gate crash the GPF banquet.

Speaking of the gate-crashing party, no one is more stunned than Yuuri himself. The sight of his classmate Amelia Kwok and Marcus Low, a former exchange student from Malaysia UNIKII Campus together with two more Asians with the Cello and Violin in tow that Yuuri doesn't knows of starting to offer live acoustic music for the dance-off battle nearly blows Yuuri's mind.

"What are you doing here and with Marcus in tow?" Yuuri could not help but asks when the female violinist passes him by.

"We are invited to play for a wedding banquet next door some time ago, but I swear it is a coincidence that we chanced upon you here. We had, no idea where you stay despite knowing that you would be in Sochi, Russia during this time period." Amelia Kwok explains before she starts to play Bizet's Carmen on her violin.

"…" Yuuri swore inwardly before he decides to throw caution to the wind and live in the moment, as the tune of Carmen starts in the background. Yuuri put a stop to the break-dance segment and launch into the Tango dance steps instead.

A dart of his eyes towards a certain silver-haired Russian had Yuuri making his way over as he invited the twenty-seven year old Russian skating legend into a Tango dance. Viktor flushed pink as Yuuri took the lead and guide him into the Tango dance, a sense of déjà vu engulfing him as he found himself reliving the last Sochi Grand Prix Banquet that no one but Yuuri and him remembered.

"Are you sure you're not drunk?" Viktor has whispered when Yuuri pull him close during the dance.

"Hm..m… I'm starting to wonder about it myself, but seeing as I haven't start doing silly things like dry humping you in public yet… I think I'm still somber just high and tipsy from the champagne intake. That, and most likely my wild side had chosen to come out and play for the night…" Yuuri smirked before he dipped Viktor in a professional dance move as the song of Hanabera Carmen came to a stop.

Yuuri nearly face-palm when he noticed the music had changed yet again and this time it was the tune of a Pop song 'Easy Come Easy Go'. Although, the song sounds a little strange on the violin but it doesn't change the main medley only the supporting parts of the music.

"Sheesh… Amelia, you had an odd sense of humor." Yuuri grumbled, before he resigned himself to the idea of dancing solo for a song that's meant for group dance.

After another round of break-dancing, the dance-pole for the pole dancing finally make its presence known.

"…Chris, do I even want to know where you got that pole for pole dancing from?" Yuuri felt his brows twitching upon the sight of that dance-pole that appears out of no where.

"Oh… I found it next door." Chris beams as he announced the answer to Yuuri.

"…Next door…" Yuuri sweat-dropped, while he was curious what on earth was a dance pole doing in the banquet hall of a wedding banquet. He decides not to ask but took another flute of champagne downing it in one gulp to brave himself for the pole dance challenge.

Being somber or as somber as he could be, Yuuri did not attempt to strip as he respond to Chris challenge of the pole dancing competition. He kept most of his clothes on, and only loosen his tie and remove his suit jacket dumping them into the awaiting hands of Viktor Nikiforov.

At first, Yuuri's move were more reserved and not as daring as Chris because of the embarrassment that burns in his gut at the idea of pole dancing in public. However, once he noticed the look of triumph that lurks behind Chris' eyes – his pride soar and he started doing more daring moves on the pole. Eventually, he removed his pants as well because he finds it too restrictive with them on.

Around them, representatives from sponsoring companies were looking quite scandalized especially the female representatives. However, once they realized that their protests are not doing any good they simply up and left the hall completely in exasperation.

"I'll say give it up, Mr Giacometti. Trying to defeat Yuuri Sempai on the dance-floor is mission impossible… he is a dance major student, despite dance being his second majoring subject. He was a part of the background dancers for Jason Lee's MIRACLE II World Tour, and Jason Lee has very high standards of expectations for his background dancer troupe. Yuuri-sempai sure didn't worm his way into the crew by luck… he was handpick by Jason Lee personally to become a part of the crew from the audition held. As for pole dancing, that is a part of his school curriculum program. He does it on daily basis, how bad could he be at it – really?" Eriko eventually commented to Chris after the Swiss drop wearily to the ground while Yuuri was still hanging to the pole doing another high level stunt.

Yuuri remained on the pole until he heard Chris claims of giving up, and then he removed himself from the pole and start pulling his pants back on.

"…Hell, you're not even panting from all that activities? Just how much stamina do you have?" Yurio gaped when he noticed Yuuri Katsuki heading for Viktor and his direction.

"My endurance and stamina level is quite high I believe, how else do you think I could handle back to back competition during the most stifling period of my studies?" Yuuri raised an eyebrow as he asks back in return.

Another flute of champagne later, Yuuri shifted his attention to the gate-crashing party and asks. "Right, care to tell me why the bunch of you decided to gate-crash the party? Surely, it wasn't simply because the dance-off challenge intrigue the lot of you?"

"Well, we won't deny that is one of the reason for our gate-crashing but the real reason is we need a flutist for our performance at Moscow next week." Marcus Low, sensing Amelia's hesitance spoke up on her behalf.

"Moscow, Russia I presume? I already had a pre-arranged commitment in Japan for next week. Flutist you say… I'll search my contact list later and send you some contacts later. Is that all you need from me?" Yuuri asks as he pull out his mobile and start scanning through his email contact list for flautist that are mainly active in Russia, trying to see if there is anyone stationed in Moscow recently.

"That's all for now, I'll let you know if I need any further help. By the way, class schedule for next school term is out on student's portal. Just thought you should know…" Amelia said before she left with the other three members of the string quartet.

"Yuuri~" Viktor started, and Yuuri turned towards the man whom was flushing pink in the cheeks.

"…Yurio, can I leave you to fend off the lots of them while I get this idiot back to his room." Yuuri then turn his eyes on the blond teen as he asks.

"What…?" Yurio blinked when he heard Yuuri's words and was about to snap at the Katsudon when he noticed the look on Viktor's face. A roll of the eyes later had the blond growling out in response, "Fine – get that idiot back before he start molesting you in public."

Looks like Viktor had reached his limits of being separated from Yuuri, because as soon as Yuuri had Viktor out of the banquet hall – he found himself pinned to the wall as the Russian starts to ravish his lips kissing them hungrily.

"Viktor, wait… we are not doing it in the corridor way. Can you survive until we reached your room or mine for the matter?" Yuuri reminded as he flicked his eyes around the corridor nervously trying to ignore the feel of Viktor's hard-on member pressing into his stomach.

"Which is nearer?" Viktor only pouted, he yearned to have Yuuri writhing under him with pleasure and the delay only makes him feel miserable with each passing minute.

Eventually, they managed to make their way into the closest room which happens to belong to Yuuri and by the time the door was safely closed and locked behind them. Yuuri's mind was half delirious from all the hot kisses and touches Viktor placed on him while they made their way to his room.

"Gods Yuuri… do you know how terrible it was for me to restrain myself when I watch you doing that pole dance with Chris?" Viktor murmurs as he starts venting his pent-up sexual frustration on his beloved Yuuri now that they were safely enclosed in Yuuri's room.

"Sorry… I swear I didn't mean to strip but the pants are too restrictive for pole dancing movements." Yuuri apologized breathlessly as he allows Viktor to have his way with him.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 17/4/17.


	53. Chapter 53

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original

Chapter 53

Yuuri winced at the soreness he felt as he tried to move when his alarm woke him, inwardly he was grateful that his flight to Hokkaido, Sapporo isn't until the afternoon. That gives him ample time to soothe that soreness wrecking his body from Viktor's doing the night before. He wasn't surprise to find Viktor missing from the bed, having known by now that Viktor is an early riser. The sound of running water tells him that the Russian hasn't left his room, and instead was using his shower to get ready for the day ahead.

The thought of what happened the night before at the banquet had Yuuri groaned out loud as he buried his face into the pillow within his reach. Seeing as he could still remember every details from the banquet leading to how he had managed to get the near drunk Viktor out from the hall and to his room… Yuuri sighed. At this point of time, he doesn't know whether mortification suits him better or he should feel relieved that he didn't exactly make a fool of himself. Sure, the dance-off is a little ridiculous but he could easily blamed that on Chris… at least he wasn't the one to start the dance-off challenge this time around.

Yuuri was sitting up in bed as he sort through his email contact lists, thank god he wasn't completely out of it the night before otherwise he doubt he would remember Marcus request of needing a flutist for their performance in Moscow, Russia next week. So, while the bathroom is occupied by Viktor Nikiforov – Yuuri took the time to find some contacts of the flautist that he had gets to know over the time of his competition days for Marcus and Amelia. After finding a few plausible candidates that could help, Yuuri send the contacts to Amelia using the Whatsapp Application on his mobile.

The sudden knock on his hotel room door had Yuuri flustered for a minute before he finally gave up on locating his clothes and grab the bathrobe that hangs in the wardrobe as he slipped it on before answering the door.

"…Why aren't you dressed yet?" Yurio hissed out in annoyance when he found himself staring into the figure of Yuuri Katsuki clad in nothing but the bathrobe again.

"I just woke up, and I wasn't expecting you to come over. Anyway, do come in… Viktor is still hogging my shower and probably won't be out anytime soon. He enjoys taking long showers." Yuuri said as he pulled the door wider allowing Yurio and the obvious suitcase of Viktor's entry. It seems like when he was still sleeping, Viktor had requested for Yurio to help in transferring his luggage over from the Russian's room.

"I assume Viktor called you to help in bringing his luggage over?" Yuuri asks after Yurio entered the room behind him with Viktor's luggage in tow.

"Well…duh, he only discovered this morning that he had left his card-key in his suit jacket which he had dumped it on me before you pulled him out for the Tango last night. Seeing as his common sense had completely fled him last night before you got him out from the banquet hall, he failed to remember that he left his jacket with me until this morning when his common sense of mind returns to him." Yurio huffed as he responded, thankfully he was an early riser too… otherwise he don't think he would take it too well to wake to the sounds of Viktor calling him early in the morning before the sun even rises.

While Yurio was speaking, Yuuri had once again resume the task of finding his discarded clothes from last night. He found the new tie given to him by Viktor on the desk, most likely thrown over there in a rush upon their entrance to the room last night. He found his pants and under-wear under the bed together with Viktor's shirt… and his shirt was drape over the bedside table lamp-shade.

Yuuri felt his eyes twitching ever so slightly as he hurried to grab the shirt from where it was hanging and fold it nicely setting it atop of the bed before apologizing to Yurio for the messy state of the room.

"Sorry, I didn't have the time to tidy things up just now." Yuuri turn towards Yurio red in the face as he said in a sheepish way.

The silence in the room while they both wait for a certain Russian to emerge from the bathroom was awkward. Yurio kept his eyes on his instagram feeds page trying to avoid looking in Yuuri's direction, while he could have left Viktor's luggage with Yuuri and headed back to where he came from earlier… he thought it better to stay behind and remind Viktor of their flight schedule in-case the man had his short-term memory lapse acting up again. Yakov would skin them both alive if Viktor missed the flight back to Saint Petersburg later because he didn't see it fit to remind Viktor of it.

Yuuri, in the meantime, took the time to go through his neglected email account since he had nothing better to do for now. He found the email notifying him that his new class schedule is up on the student's portal but decided to skip it for now, and move on to the next few unread mails pending his attention in the inbox of his school's email account.

There is an email from Queen Records with information about the recording and performance itinerary plans for the first quarter of 2016. He decides to go through the email in detail later when he have more time at hand. Aside from the email from Queen Records and his school administration team, Yuuri found that the UNIKII Orchestra Society has email him the itinerary for a Fund-Raising concert event coming up in End January 2016 together with the dates for rehearsal sessions and repertoire lists. Last but not least, he had an email from the school newsletter team with an invitation for interview with regards to the musical project which students' from the Performing Arts' Faculty was working on.

"Oh Yurio, you're here!" The sound of Viktor's voice draws Yuuri out from his deep thoughts, and spurs him into gathering his clothes and making a bee-line for the bathroom.

"Of course I'm here, weren't you the one whom called me hours ago requesting for me to send your luggage over?" Yurio throws back at Viktor with unhidden annoyance in his tone of voice.

"Oh right… I dozed off again after calling you about it, so I guess it slips my mind for a while." Viktor responded somewhat sheepishly.

"Yakov said to remind you our flight is at noon, please get your ass to the lobby by 9.45 a.m. so we can set off for the airport as a team." Yurio reminded with a roll of his eyes, pointedly.

A quick dart at the time reflected on the phone, Viktor heaved a sigh in relief when he noticed he still had another hour or so with Yuuri. The thought of having to separate from Yuuri makes Viktor feel sad again. While logically, he knows he would get to see Yuuri again in March and this separation is necessary with their impending Nationals but he still finds it hard to deal with the idea of it.

Yurio huffed when he found Viktor looking miserable again, but he knew nothing he said would have any impact on the idiot and decided to leave it to the Katsudon instead. Thankfully, the Katsudon doesn't hog the showers like Viktor does and is out within a twenty minutes time-frame.

"Finally, I was just about to snap and kick this idiot here. Now that you're out, I shall leave him to you and please have him settled and ready to leave for the airport in another 40 minutes." Yurio muttered out loud to Yuuri before taking his leave from the room.

"…" Yuuri stared at the back of Yurio for a minute before turning his attention back to the dejected Russian sitting on the foot of his hotel bed. With a sigh, Yuuri stepped forward and hug the man pressing a kiss on Viktor's forehead.

"You do know why we have to separate, don't you?" Yuuri prompts, looking Viktor straight in the eyes.

Yuuri received a nod of response from Viktor, before he heard the Russian answered. "I know and while logically I can understand the reasons for it, emotionally I can't accept it."

"Yes well… but this is what we have dealt with all these while, isn't it? Even before our time-traveling fiasco, both of us had to endure at least two weeks of separation from one another on regular basis – isn't that so? Either you had to bring your students overseas for competitions, or I am unable to travel with you for one reason or another. How did we deal with it back then?" Yuuri asks patiently as he stared at Viktor.

"Through daily phone calls and text messages…" Viktor responded sadly.

"Yes, and this time around we can have the same arrangement – isn't it? The only difference is the time period is longer than a fortnight separation between us, but before Sochi we had deal with it pretty well – so I think you can handle it for another three months, right? By end March, we would be meeting up again. You are coming for the musical, isn't it? After that, I'm going to join you in Boston to see you in action for the World Championship after my graduation. After that, we are heading back to Hasetsu for a 2 months holiday period. Although, I can't guarantee that I could spend every minute of the holiday with you at this point of time but we gets to see one another on daily basis during that two months period. This, I promise you…" Yuuri told Viktor in a patient way that ironically reminded Yuuri of how a parent would coax a child into leaving for another place when the child refuses to budge.

"Really? We get to see one another every day while in Hasetsu? Can I bunk in with you then?" Viktor asks, a hopeful look on his face now.

"…I don't think that will go over too well with my family, I could however arrange for you to stay in the family wing instead of the guest wing though. Would that be okay? Besides, nothing is stopping you from having a sleepover in my room now and then. Just don't do it too often, we need to ease the idea on my family and not just sprang it on them unexpectedly." Yuuri told Viktor with a lopsided smile then, and the suggestion that Viktor is welcome to have a sleepover in his room during their stay in Hasetsu successfully brought the smile back on the Russian's face.

After making a dozen promises about how Yuuri would make it a point to call Viktor as regularly as he could, and would not ignore the Russian's messages – the duo finally left for the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Yuuri indulge Viktor again by allowing the Russian to select his breakfast menu for him. After breakfast, Yuuri walk Viktor down to the hotel lobby with the man's luggage in tow and send Viktor off with Team Russia by giving the man a loose hug in the hotel lobby.

Yuuri's flight is schedule for an hour after Viktor, and he's traveling to the airport with Marcus Lopez and his junior, Kitamura Eriko. Celestino has already left for the airport, since his flight is the early morning flight bound for Detroit. Yuuri proceeds on to check-out of his room since he already had his luggage in tow with him when he walks Viktor down to join the awaiting Team Russia just now. After completing the check-out process, Yuuri took a seat on the sofa couch in the hotel lobby with his luggage sitting by his foot as he took out his phone again to get access to his school's email account.

Pulling out a pen and his schedule book for 2016, Yuuri started to pen-in the dates for his performances for the first quarter of 2016. It is easier to plan his schedule now with Viktor away and thus no distractions. Yuuri briefly wonders if he should get in a personal assistant to handle his scheduling when he shifted over to Saint Petersburg officially, since dealing with Viktor is going to take up a lot of his time and he really doesn't want to have his schedule completely messed up after being distracted too many times by Viktor.

Yuuri nearly groaned out loud when he suddenly recalled the one year contract with Queen Records and the Artists Management Company upon graduation. The last time around he took a year break after graduation upon his return to Hasetsu so there wasn't much jobs lined up for him by the Artists Management Company, and later because of Viktor's unexpected arrival he focus his energy on getting back on the ice after slacking somewhat in that department. When his contract expires with Queen Records and the Artists Management Company, he didn't re-contract but went on free-lance basis instead.

This time around though, he doubt he could have such an easy time after graduation. With the musical production, combined with the number of performances he would be doing in the first quarter of 2016… Yuuri realized that he might have to start involving Viktor in his schedule plans if he wanted to avoid clashes between commitments of both sides especially following his official shift of his home rink to Saint Petersburg.

"Guess I'll just have to take one step at a time, and maybe… getting in a PA isn't so bad after all. Maybe I ought to get one that can speak Russian since the PA would have to tag along for the shift to Saint Petersburg if I do get one…" Yuuri murmurs to himself as he penned down the idea for later consideration.

That was how Marcus Lopez and Kitamura Eriko found Yuuri when the duo arrived at the hotel lobby in preparation to leave for the airport. As usual, there are no direct flights from Sochi to Hokkaido, Japan so they have to transit. Yuuri continued to plan out his schedule for first quarter of 2016 on his flight from Sochi to Moscow, Russia. He took lunch with Eriko and Marcus Lopez in the transit area of Moscow, Russia Airport and slept the entire way of the flight journey from Moscow to Shanghai, Pudong. He spent some time texting Viktor while waiting for the connecting flight from Shanghai, Pudong to Narita, Japan. They spend their transit hours in the airport hotel sleeping off the jet-lag, before they board their flight bound for Hokkaido, Sapporo from Narita Domestic Airport Terminal.

The trio arrived at Hokkaido, Sapporo late at night on 15th December 2015 and board a cab from the airport to the hotel they would be staying – Sapporo Park Hotel. The hotel is actually meant for Yuuri and Marcus but it was too late for Eriko to travel to the hostel where students of Chiekan is staying alone, so Yuuri decided to let the girl bunk in with him since the room is a twin room that can fit 2 person stay so there is a spare bed available for Eriko.

As to the reason the room is a twin room and not the usual double room, it most likely had something to do with the flutist whom had to pull out from the performance because of family emergency case. Initially, Kasumi's intention is for Yuuri to share the room with Celestino so she didn't make any amendments to the booking put in by the events team of Kitara Concert Hall. However, Celestino is not coming and send Marcus in his place instead. Marcus Lopez doesn't know Yuuri well enough to consider sharing the room with Yuuri and hence decided to book another room for his own use even if he had to pay out from his own pockets. Thus, Eriko was given the use of the extra bed in Yuuri's room instead.

Although sharing a room with a girl is not exactly ideal but it wasn't as bad as Yuuri's first thought. Besides, Eriko is only going to stay in Sapporo for three days and afterwards Yuuri can have the room entirely to himself again. It probably also helps that Eriko is still a kid and is a morning person unlike Yuuri, so they had managed to avoid the awkward situation of fighting over the bathroom every morning.

While Eriko is staying in Sapporo, Marcus Lopez's duty every morning is to walk Eriko over to the local high school for her joint band practices with her fellow band-mates. Yuuri, however, headed over to the Kitara Concert Hall for his rehearsal practices. The trio would only reunite with one another in the hotel after the day's practice session ended for the day. That was the routine during the three days which Eriko was with them, and once Eriko left for Ibaraki for her junior National Championship with Tsukishiro Asami… the routine changed.

Seeing as Yuuri is an adult and hardly need a chaperon most of the time, Marcus entertained himself by going on day-tour that the local heritage and tourism board organized. They would meet up again for dinner, before paying the public entrant fee for the use of the local rink in order for Yuuri to go through his competition program daily for 2 hours leading up to the National Championship. The rest of the time, Yuuri spend working with the orchestra team on coordinating parts for the repertoire for the impending concert.

Every night without fail, Yuuri would give Viktor a call on the phone although due to the time difference between Russia and Japan. Sometimes, they only managed a five minutes conversation before Viktor was force to end the call under Yakov's yelling. Viktor's text message were frequent during the day, but Yuuri tends to respond only during break time in between his rehearsal session or during lunch break hour. They spoke of nothing important mostly just updating each other on daily happenings, the routine continues throughout the week up until two days before the official performance of the concert that it was finally disrupted as Yuuri doesn't gets as much break during rehearsal practices as compared to before.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 19/4/17.


	54. Chapter 54

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original

Chapter 54

"Seriously, can you stop your moping already? I'm sure Katsudon isn't ignoring you on purpose, he's probably just too busy to reply or call you." Yurio huffed in annoyance when Viktor pulled him aside to complain about the lack of contact from Yuuri Katsuki for the umpteen times since the start of this morning.

At the sight of Viktor attempting to send another message to Yuuri's phone, Yurio snapped and confiscated the mobile from the twenty-seven year old. "Please stop SPAMMING him on whatsapp as well, if he wasn't ignoring you on purpose before… I'm sure he would purposely ignore you after finding out that you had been SPAMMING him on Whatsapp."

"NO~~~ Yurio, don't take my phone away from me!" Viktor started looking alarmed when Yurio tucked his phone away and headed for Yakov's direction.

"I will return it to you by the end of the day. Now, you are going to stop your moping and get on the ice to run through your routine for Yakov before he had it in mind to confiscate your phone personally." Yurio gritted out as he tried to refrain from yelling at the skating legend, reason why he wasn't yelling and screaming yet was because their home rink were crowd with reporters for the day and it wouldn't be good for him to lose his cool composure in front of the media.

"Yes, Viktor… you'd better get on the ice before Yakov completely loses it and start screaming at you in front of the reporters. What would your fans do if they had to witness that particular scenario on TV?" Mila Babicheva patted Viktor on the shoulder as she passes him by and re-join the rest of their rink-mates on the ice after her interview session with one of the reporters present on site.

Sneaking a peek towards Yakov, Viktor sighed as he schooled his expression into one of smiles when all he really wanted to do was to hide somewhere with his phone while he waited for his beloved to respond to his messages. Logically, Viktor knows there is no need for him to mope because sooner or later Yuuri would respond to him but sometimes he just cannot seems to help it.

'…Just how am I going to survive this three months without Yuuri?' Viktor sighed inwardly as he dwell on the issue, while on the outside he was working on auto-piloting mode as he responded to the reporters' questions with regards to the impending Russian Nationals in three days time at Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Yakov kept his keen eyes on Viktor throughout the interview, fearing that Viktor would accidentally let it slip of his relationship with the Japanese Skater – Yuuri Katsuki. Thankfully, Viktor distracted as he was still had enough sense not to comment anything when reporters brings up the topic of Yuuri Katsuki for discussion.

Yes, Yakov Feltsman is very much aware of the nature of Viktor's relationship with that Yuuri Katsuki of Japan. It is almost impossible to not notice anything with the way Viktor tends to speak of the Japanese Skater to members of their home-rink in Saint Petersburg before Sochi. At first, he feared Viktor might scare off Yuuri Katsuki but when he noticed how indulgent the Japanese was with Viktor's antics – he knew Viktor's feelings wasn't unrequited. Frankly speaking though, he wasn't quite sure what to think about it yet… and the sheer thought of the Japanese joining them in Saint Petersburg come next season causes Yakov to fret more. The only plus point he could think of at this point was that Yuuri Katsuki is able to keep Viktor under control, judging from the way the man had handled Viktor in Sochi.

Yurio could easily felt Viktor's phone vibrated in his jacket's pocket, and wasted no time in pulling out the gadget. A dart towards Viktor's direction tells him that the twenty-seven, soon going on twenty-eight year old man was busy with interviews. Not being one to invade another's privacy, Yurio sneak a peek down at the vibrating gadget and heaved a sigh in relief when he realized it was just the Katsudon replying to Viktor's message and not an incoming call. He waited patiently until Viktor was finish with the interviews and ran through the routine under Yakov's watchful eyes before handing the gadget back to the twenty-seven year old.

Later that evening when Yakov ended the training session earlier than usual, probably because of the lingering presence of the reporters … Viktor drag Yurio along on his furniture shopping trip.

"What the hell do you want me here for?" Yurio frowned as he complains about being drag along for the trip.

"Your opinions of course…" Viktor commented, that confuses Yurio greatly.

"Why would my opinions matters on how you choose to set up your guest room?" Yurio frown deepens as he throws the question back at Viktor.

"Well…seeing as you would be the one using it, I would think your opinions should matters. At least, that's what Yuuri was saying." Viktor smiled at Yurio as he responded, causing the blond more confusion as they entered the furniture store.

"What do you mean by I'm the one using it?" Yurio was very confused now, so much so that he actually appears slightly lost and actually failed to react when the staff from the furniture store mistook him for Viktor's son.

"Seeing as you had no intention to continue attending lessons on campus after graduation come March… you would not be eligible to stay in the school dorm building anymore. Getting an apartment for yourself while not impossible would be incredibly taxing on your financial status at this point of time, especially if we are looking at getting an apartment in a district with better security. Granted, you had the choice of staying with Yakov as well… but I don't think you would want to when the Feltsman are still settling their divorce issue." Viktor felt no qualms about using Yakov's divorce topic as a method of persuasion to convince the fifteen year old to move into his apartment after his graduation from school.

"…" Yurio was completely silent now, a part of him was aghast over the thought of staying with Viktor and that Katsudon… but another part of him was actually quite tempted. Seeing as Viktor is actually allowing him a say in the furnitures and decor that is going into Viktor's guest-room… this is something that not even Yakov would allow him to do.

Yurio has not contemplated on the idea of living by himself as of current, fifteen year old is still too young to live alone according to the authority. He had always assumed that Yakov would be housing him after his moving out from the school dorm, so he is actually quite surprised by Viktor's offer at housing him and allowing him to decide the decor of the guest-room he would be entitled to use during the period of his stay.

"So, what's your verdict on this issue?" Viktor prompted, he truly hoped Yurio would agree to his suggestion though... because these days he often finds it hard to deal with an empty apartment.

"…Fine, I'll agree on one condition. I'll pay you rent." Yurio eventually said after much internal struggle, he doesn't like the idea of accepting help but he also knows his own financial status and the true reflection of his situation. His grand-father is getting old and his parents' were practically non-existent at this point of his life, it is up to him alone to support his grand-father.

Even with the prize money and sponsors under his belt, trying to support his grand-father residing in Moscow and being self-reliance is impossible for now. He either has to rely on Yakov to take him in, or he accept Viktor's offer of housing him. The thought of being under Yakov's watch twenty-four hour seven, and the thought of enduring Viktor's idiotic acts… the latter won out. After all, he already had Katsudon's permission to kick Viktor if the man gets too annoying for his liking… with Yakov he would have to stay on his best behavior all the time. Still, Yurio wasn't one to accept help easily so he insists on taking up Viktor's offer only if he pays Viktor rental on monthly basis.

"Deal!" Viktor agreed easily, knowing by now Yurio would insists on paying him back for the help in one way or another. Still, he wasn't really going to charge the teen rental though… he would just collect enough to split the utilities and food costs. Yurio doesn't have to know it though… he would just let Yurio thinks he had collected the amount equivalent for rent when the teen allows him to deduct the amount off the prize money before returning the balance amount to Yurio.

With Yurio's acceptance of the offer, Viktor wasted no time in dragging Yurio about the store in search for suitable furnitures. Yurio tried not to flinch at the amount of money spends on the furnitures after the choice was decide and the delivery date set. Yurio kept telling himself that the furnitures belongs to Viktor's apartment, the man was only allowing him to have his comments because he would be the first person to use them… and besides all he insists was that he wants a comfortable bed. He had not comment anything about the size of the bed or the brand selected though, that was all Viktor's… so he doesn't have to feel bad about the amount of money spend on the furnitures by Viktor at all.

Yurio didn't bother asking how Viktor intends to set up the room for the Katsudon though, he knows enough by now to see that the Katsudon after moving over to Saint Petersburg would be staying with Viktor in the master bedroom of the Russian's apartment unit. After leaving the furniture store, Viktor insists on getting dinner with Yurio that ends up with Yurio insisting on paying the bill for dinner. Since Yurio insists on paying for dinner, they ended up settling dinner in one of the middle-range restaurant instead of the posh and high-end restaurants which Viktor tends to frequent.

"Makkachin, what do you think of having a cat in the apartment?" Viktor asks when he arrived home after sending Yurio back to his school dorm for the day.

The big poodle puppy raised its head at the sound of Viktor's voice, but doesn't seems to fully comprehend Viktor's words. Then again, Viktor wasn't really expecting any response from Makkachin – he was just thinking out loud to himself. He knows that Yurio like cats over dogs, and Yurio did indeed own a cat after leaving the school dorm. At this point of time, Yurio has no pets because of the dormitory 'no pets allowed' policy. Still, sooner or later Yurio would get a kitty in as pet and Viktor doesn't want Yurio to curb that urge of getting a cat for a pet simply because he already has a dog at home.

Pulling out his mobile phone, Viktor drop a text to Yuuri seeking his beloved opinion's at getting Yurio a pet kitten for a graduation gift and to check if Vic-chan would be okay with having a kitten around.

To Yuuri: What do you think of me getting Yurio a pet kitten for a pet after his graduation? By the way, he has agreed with moving in after graduation. Speaking of, Vic-chan is going to follow you over to Saint Petersburg, right? Is he okay with having a cat around?

Fifteen minute later, Yuuri's response came in – it looks like Viktor had caught Yuuri at a good time this time around.

To Viktor: I think the idea of getting Yurio a cat for a pet is great. He does love cats after all… and yes, Vic-chan is coming with me to Saint Petersburg. I don't think Vic-chan would have a problem with cats around, we do have guests who bring cats along on their trip and so far Vic-chan is alright with the cats' presence… question is how Makkachin will feel about having his territory invaded by Vic-chan and that cat you are thinking of getting Yurio.

To Yuuri: No worry on that, I will be bringing Makkachin out in search for the perfect kitten for Yurio. I'm sure Makka will choose a cat that he could get along with.

To Viktor: *smiley icon* Well, if you are certain of it… then just go ahead. Good luck for your National, it's starting from 23rd Dec right? Seeing as it's nearly month-end, please check if you had paid all your bills for the month. Try not to have a repeat of that earlier incident of having your utilities cut disconnected because you have forgotten about the bill payment.

To Yuuri: *horror icon* Oh dear… you'd just reminded me I had forgotten to wire this month's housekeeping fee to the housekeeper. Honestly, Yuuri… what am I going to do if you weren't here to remind me of these little things.

To Viktor: *sweat-drop* I guess I just have to check in on you regularly until March then. By the way, sorry for the delay in the response… performance is coming up in less than 48 hours away. The rehearsals are getting more and more intense so the number of breaks are getting lesser. I probably won't have time to reply you at all for tomorrow, since it would be hectic around. I would try to call you tomorrow night though, and it's now time for me to sleep. I'll speak with you tomorrow night, good night! 333

To Yuuri: Good night, and sleep tight! 333 *kisses x 3*

Yuuri smiled before setting the phone aside as he climbed into his bed and dozes off almost immediately. Meanwhile, in Saint Petersburg, Russia – Viktor was busy packing his suitcase for the trip to Yekaterinburg where the Russian National will be taking place. Once he had completed with the packing, Viktor coax for Makkachin to join him on the bed as he cuddle his poodle pet to him while he get ready for bed.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 20/4/17.


	55. Chapter 55

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original

Chapter 55

Kanako Odagaki, the coach of Minami Kenjiro felt a nerve ticking away on her forehead as she took in the sight of her student bouncing in his seat on the bullet train heading for Hokkaido, Sapporo.

"Minami, can you settle down and stop bouncing in your seat? It's getting kind of annoying to put up with all that creaking sound from your bouncing acts." The female coach warned, while she was expecting for her student Minami Kenjiro to get excited over the prospect of meeting his idol – Yuuri Katsuki in person at the National Championship for the first time around. All that bouncing and fidgeting from Minami is driving her crazy, she swear.

"Sorry coach, but I can't help it… I'm going to see Katsuki-san in person for the first time." Minami Kenjiro gushes out in giddiness as a pink flush donned his cheeks.

"Yes well… I can understand where your excitement is coming from, but I certainly hope you can get it under control when you entered the concert hall." Kanako used the tip of her fingers to massage the sides of her temples as she reminded her student pointedly.

"Concert… oh you mean the concert which Katsuki-san is performing in?" Minami Kenjiro blinked innocently, he remembered getting hyped up about wanting to go to the concert when Katsuki Yuuri first mentioned it over the interview on Fuji TV but he thought Kanako had shot down the idea when he first brought it up. Hence, he had resigned himself about being unable to go… but judging from Kanako's words, it seems he gets to go to the concert after all?

"Of course, weren't you the one insisting on how you want to see Katsuki on stage? Do you know how hard it was to get ahold of the tickets?" Kanako Odagaki asked with mock annoyance as she spoke to her student.

"Yes, I admit I was the one who brings up the idea of heading down to Hokkaido two days early to watch Katsuki-san's concert… but didn't you shoot down the idea when I first mentioned it? And then you mentioned something about all the tickets had sold out and told me to drop the issue?" Minami was confuse, as he wonders just how exactly did his coach get hold of the tickets if it was completely out of circulation before.

"You're lucky my nephew is part of the orchestra performing in the concert, he gets two complimentary tickets to invite his family members down for support. Still, you owe me big time as I have to plead with my aunt and uncle to allow me and you to attend the concert in their stead. You better do well in the National Championship and get yourself on the podium afterwards if you want to repay me for getting you the chance to see your idol on stage." Kanako Odagaki huffed as she said to Minami just how exactly did she managed to get the tickets to the concert event.

Kanako Odagaki was then rewarded by an enthusiastic hug and beaming smile from Minami Kenjiro, and had to endure the rest of the journey to Sapporo, Hokkaido with Minami's excited chatters. Well, the good thing is the bouncing in seat antic had stopped and the endless chatters replaces it.

"I hope you are not nervous… I just checked the audience crowd before coming down here. It's full-house out there, and Morooka Hisashi of TV Asahi News is out there in the audience crowd as well." Kasumi, the intern on JSF events team and part of the organizing team for this concert event for Sapporo University Orchestra stood before Yuuri as she said.

"I wouldn't say I'm not nervous, but it's not to the level of sweaty palms if that's what you're thinking… Although, I do gets a little unnerved by the idea of performing in front of my competitors for the Nationals though." Yuuri sigh out loud while he had yet to interact with the audience crowd, and he had expected Minami Kenjiro's presence among the audience… he was not expecting to see other familiar faces from the figure-skating community among the audiences.

However, that was exactly what happened. Aside from Minami Kenjiro, Yuuri had noticed several other familiar faces among the crowd as he visited the bathroom earlier. Thankfully, neither of them noticed his passing them by as they were busy speaking with one another.

"Nah… you'll do fine. This isn't something you had never done before anyway, just do it as though you are going through the official rehearsal and don't think about who is among the audiences." Kasumi advised, before patting Yuuri encouragingly on the shoulder and step out from the dressing room.

On the overall, Yuuri would say that the performance went well enough. He thanked Minami's coach with a nod of acknowledgement when the former managed to clap a hand over Minami's mouth before the teen could yelp his name in excitement upon his entrance on stage. Ignoring everything else, Yuuri focused his attention on the scores sitting on the music stand in front of him as he played his solo part before the rest of the orchestra join in for the rest of the piece.

The applause from the audience crowds at the end of each piece eased Yuuri into the performance, and the successful attempt of Kanako stopping Minami from behaving too enthusiastically probably helps a lot in easing Yuuri's nerves for the performance. Without the sound of Minami's enthusiastic call from the crowd, Yuuri could easily pretended this performance as one of his usual ones in Detroit, Michigan.

The peaceful mood lasted until the performance comes to a close, and the emcee gave the audience crowd the signal to come to the front for photography session with the performers. Yuuri was not surprised to find himself facing Morooka Hisashi from TV Asahi News, and surrounded by fellow competitors then.

Minami Kenjiro wasted no time in bouncing up front and greeting Yuuri enthusiastically, followed by an equally excited self-introduction.

"Nice to meet you, Minami-kun. I am looking forward to compete with you on the ice as well." Yuuri smiles back at the enthusiastic teen in response.

"Katsuki-san, that was fantastic. How long has you been playing the flute, if you don't mind me asking?" Morooka Hisashi then asks, perhaps it is his habit of being a reporter driving him but the man ended up putting a voice recorder in front of Yuuri as he awaits the response.

"Morooka-san, it's nice to see you here as well. Although, I have to wonder… are you switching career path from sports reporting to arts and culture reporting?" Yuuri asks raising an eyebrow at the voice recorder in front of him.

Morooka Hisashi blinks and then stared down at his own hands, before responding in an apologetic tone. "My apologies, it seems like my work habits has made itself known again. I assured you I am not changing my career path."

Yuuri smiled good-naturedly as he responded to Morooka's question from before, and said. "I've been playing the flute since my Junior High period in 2005, it's now 2015 so… this is my tenth year playing the instrument."

"So, are there any chance of you going back to piano performance in the near future?" Just then, Yuuri heard another man's voice speaking up and before he knows it – a microphone with the familiar logo of TV Asahi was place in front of him.

"Moriyama-sempai?" Yuuri frowned as he tried to recall just where exactly has he seen this man before.

"Bingo, your memory is astounding as ever. Good evening to you as well, Morooka-san." The newcomer, Moriyama beams as he responded to Yuuri and greeted Morooka Hisashi politely.

"Never would I thought I would be interviewed by you again… although, I must say I am not surprised that you end up being a reporter." Yuuri commented with dry humor as he greeted the official reporter for the concert event send by TV Asahi.

"What can I say… this is where my passion lies. Now back to my original question, are there any chance of us seeing you performing on a piano in the near future?" Moriyama asks, smiling at Yuuri as he waited for his old classmate's response.

"Hm…m… that I do not know for now. However, I won't deny that there's always a possible chance of me going back to piano performance when opportunities comes along." Yuuri responded, a thoughtful look overtaking his features as he contemplates on the idea.

"Thank you, I'm sure a lot of your fans are waiting for a chance to see you performing on the piano again. Not that we doesn't enjoy your flute performances, but it has indeed been a long time since you performed on the piano in public." Moriyama commented as he winked playfully at Yuuri causing Yuuri to flush crimson in response.

After which, Moriyama moves on to interview the conductor for today's performance leaving Yuuri's group of company and then Minami gushes over the knowledge of Yuuri's ability to play the piano.

"Wow… how many instruments can you play, Katsuki-san?" Minami Kenjiro asks in curiosity, as a look of awe cloud his features as he stared at Yuuri.

"Erm… I can play both the piano and the flute, I know a bit of violin but I can't play it well. Of course, I know how to play the keyboard and maybe a bit of guitar?" Yuuri responded, his cheeks still tinge with pink flush of embarrassment over Minami's question.

"So, are you able to do composing as well?" The silent teen standing slightly behind Minami Kenjiro, spoke up for the first time then.

"Kishimoto Junichi, right? To be honest, I'm quite surprise to see you here… seeing as you were more of a fan of Chris. Either way, to answer your question – I don't really do composing of music because I don't have the time. Music composition takes up a lot of time, and time is simply something I do not have on hand." Yuuri responded, keeping his tone kind but firm.

"Oh… was that why you never skate to an original piece of music before?" Kishimoto Junichi asks again after Yuuri answered his earlier question.

Putting a hand up to hold back Minami's bristling remarks, Yuuri responded once again in a cool tone of voice. "I do not know why you are so curious about my program music choices, but all I can say is I didn't choose the music to my programs myself. They are select by my coach Celestino Cialdini, so if you want to comment on the lack of originality of the music choose for the programs please bring it up to Celestino instead of me."

Yuuri didn't stay on to mingle with Minami after the conversation with Kishimoto Junichi, not because he took offence to the teen's words but more because his phone was vibrating incessantly in the pocket of his pants. At first, he thought it was Viktor calling him but upon the first look at the caller ID – his eyes widen slightly as he answered the call without delay.

"Yes, this is Katsuki speaking."

Yuuri was dumb-founded when he end the call with the other party, that was a call from the headquarters of UNIKII requesting for a meeting at his earliest convenience with the representatives of the Artist Management Company about matters relating for the début of the group – Shinos.

Yuuri knows about the group Shinos, back in the last time-line he had lived through – its' an idol unit that the siblings of Shinomiya belongs to hence the Shinos. What has that got to do with him this time around? A frown marred his features as Yuuri dwell on the issue, and eventually he ends up calling Kanade whom is now in Kyushu and see if he could get more information from Kanade instead.

"Kanade, I've just received the call from the HQ about a meeting with representative from the Artist Management Company with regards to the début of Shinos. Pray tell what has that got to do with me?" Yuuri asks with slight panic in his voice.

"You mean, you haven't had any idea about it before?" Kanade sounds incredulous on the other end causing Yuuri to fret more.

"Should I have any idea about it?" Yuuri throws back in return, sounding slightly annoyed now.

"In short, there are VIP guests from the company during the last 'Battle of the Bands' held on campus and our group has been short-listed for debuting upon graduation. Your dancing ability caught their attention, together with Hiroaki. I'll tell you more when you are back in Hasetsu to prepare for the New Year countdown concert, I need to go now before Aunt Chieko send out a troop to find me." Kanade explains hurriedly before ending the call.

At the same time, the Hiroaki mentioned by Kanade was in Chicago when he got the same call from UNIKII Detroit about the same matter. Shinomiya Haruka, on the other hand, was simply called to the administration office and told of the same thing by the office staff. Kanade, however, was brief on the issue directly by a representative from the Artist Management Company in Kyushu before he received the call from Yuuri.

While Yuuri was busy digesting the unexpected news from Kanade about him being packaged and début as part of the upcoming idol unit – Shinos. Viktor Nikiforov, was staring at the stack of discs he had just found sitting at the bottom of his suitcase. It took a few minute for Viktor to recall that these discs were given to him by his beloved Yuuri for him to satisfy his yearning to see Yuuri.

Having arrived at Yekaterinburg in preparation for the Nationals without Yurio around, the teen has to attend classes and the Nationals for the Juniors isn't until January… Yakov had left Yurio behind with the rest of the Junior in their home-rink to train under the assistant coach while Yakov lead the seniors over to Yekaterinburg for the Nationals. Seeing as Yuuri had mentioned today the 22nd is a busy day, Viktor decided to entertain himself by watching these performance of Yuuri to curb the urge to contact his beloved for now.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 21/4/17.


	56. Chapter 56

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original

Chapter 56

Date: 4th January 2016, UNIKII Detroit Campus Dormitory

"No, Phichit… not now… I'll talk to you after I slept enough." Yuuri hold a hand up to detain his room-mate from speaking and dump himself on his bed without bothering to change his clothes. The lethargy from the long hours of flight from Japan to Detroit was taxing on him, and the past few days are really hectic for Yuuri.

Ever since that call from UNIKII HQ on 22nd December 2015 after his concert performance at Kitara Concert Hall with regards to the meeting with the Artist Management company representative, his schedule was pack to the brim on daily basis. He was so busy that he didn't even have time to watch the live-stream of Viktor's competition, and had to rely on checking the ISU website for results and visiting the ISU channel on YouTube for the videos of Viktor's routine performed.

During the period of his own National Championship Tournament, Yuuri's time was spent on the rink practicing and training. With the determination not to self-destruct nor bomb the Nationals, Yuuri pushes aside the shocking discovery of him being a part of the upcoming idol unit – Shinos and work his ass off on the rink under Marcus supervision. His efforts paid off, this time winning Gold for the Nationals and keeping Minami at second place while Kishimoto took Bronze.

After the Nationals, Yuuri traveled back to Hasetsu on the earliest bullet train available and despite the weariness he felt from the travel. The first thing he did upon arriving home was to contact Kanade, asking to meet up for further discussion of the début matter of the Shinos. After the New Year Countdown performance at Hasetsu Community Center, Yuuri was once again on the move. This time heading down to Tokyo, partly to support Eriko and Chiekan Junior High Wind Band in their joint concert with the high school from Sapporo, Hokkaido at Suntory Hall. The other reason for his traveling down to Tokyo is for the first recording session of the album of 'The complete Best of Animation Theme Songs Orchestra Covers' – collaboration project between Queen Records and the Japanese Animation Association.

The recording took up the morning of 2nd January, and later he spend his evening at Suntory Hall supporting Eriko in her performance with the Wind Band of Chiekan Junior High. After dinner, it's back to the recording studio for the second half of recording which lasted till mid-night before he was allow back to the hotel for rest. The next morning, Yuuri was coop up in the recording studio up until noon that he finishes the recording for the first round. He would do the second round of recording solo in Detroit, and at noon he left the Tokyo Recording Studio and headed for Narita International Airport where he would catch his late afternoon flight to Detroit.

Yuuri's flight landed in Detroit Metropolitan Airport the morning of 4th January, and Celestino was there picking him up driving him back to the dorm building of UNIKII Detroit Campus. Yuuri had another round of recording on 5th and 6th January in downtown Detroit, he needs to finish the recording before the school term begins on 7th January 2016 officially. Hence, instead of catching up with Phichit… all Yuuri wanted to do now was to sleep off his fatigue from the long flight.

Yuuri slept through lunch, and only woke two hours before dinner to Phichit's chatters on the phone. Stumbling his way into the bathroom, Yuuri washes his face so to wake himself before heading back out and snatching his phone off Phichit's hand placing it next to his ears instead.

"Sorry Viktor, I didn't get to speak with you over the last few days. Congrats on your win in the Russian Nationals." Yuuri said automatically when he successfully retrieve his phone from Phichit.

"Ah… Yuuri, I see that you're finally awake. Phichit was saying that you'd been sleeping for the entire part of today?" Viktor asks cheerfully when he heard his beloved voice coming through the connection.

"Yes, I did slept through the most of today. You know I don't deal well with long distance flight and with the hectic schedule before my return to Detroit, it's a wonder I didn't slept more." Yuuri sighed out loud as he slipped his glasses back on and proceeds on with the task of unpacking his suitcase.

The first thing he did upon opening his suitcase was to empty out the loot from Sochi, Russia and Sapporo, Hokkaido dumping into the lap of Phichit Chulanont. As he needs to unpack, Yuuri ended up setting Viktor's call on speaker mode instead. After all, there is no point hiding his relationship with Viktor in front of Phichit any longer. With the frequency of how common Viktor communicate with Phichit on social media platforms, it is downright impossible for the Thai skater to not caught on to how close they actually are with one another.

"Seriously, of all the possible things to get me as a souvenir – you just have to pick post-cards from Sochi?" Phichit raised his eyebrow at Yuuri in question as he commented.

"Sorry for not making more of an effort in shopping for souvenirs, but I don't exactly gets a lot of time to do shopping. Well, at least the local snacks from Hokkaido I could get easily from the train station. I would have gotten you local snacks from Sochi if I could, but unfortunately food items cannot keep for long and must be consumed as soon as possible so the only thing I could think of without expiry date is those simple tokens such as the postcards set you now hold in your hands." Yuuri throws out at Phichit with an easy shrug, but thankfully nobody except Phichit expect to receive tokens of souvenirs from his Sochi Trip.

"Oh Yuuri… you should have told me about the need to get souvenirs for your friends in Detroit when we were in Sochi. I could have help you out in that department…" Viktor was saying, although Yuuri can't see the man – he had no trouble imagining the pout on the man's face now.

"Yes, well… but I didn't exactly remember it until the last-minute before the flight…" Yuuri told Viktor easily enough, ignoring Phichit's wail in the background without a bat of an eyelid.

"Fine… speaking of souvenir, I'd received the DVD for the concert event in Hokkaido. It just arrived in the mail yesterday morning. I haven't had the chance to watch it though, I've only just finished watching that stack of discs you'd given me in Sochi last weekend." Viktor sounded cheerful over the line, and Yuuri could not help but smile in response to the man's cheerful tone.

"Yes, well… I didn't have time to wait around for the DVD so I ask Kasumi to help send it to you when it is out. Glad to know her efficiency though…" Yuuri responded to Viktor before raising his eyebrow in question, keeping half his mind still on his unpacking task he asks. "You finished watching the discs over last weekend? Aren't you supposed to focus on your Nationals that weekend like I am?"

There was a pause before Viktor started somewhat sheepishly and said, "Yes… but I cannot help it, I actually forgotten about their existence until I found them at the bottom of my suitcase while at Yekaterinburg in preparation for the impending Nationals. After finding them I simply could not resists the temptation to watch them so…"

"…So, you spend the entire night watching them? I sure hope you pace them out though, seeing as it was during your competition period." Yuuri prompted, expecting more information to spill forth from Viktor.

"I may have not slept a wink that night… and ended up skipping the morning practice resulting in a tongue lashing lecture from Yakov the very next day. I didn't missed my competition turn though… and after that first night, I made sure to pace the rest of the videos out. I didn't forced Georgi to watch it with me this time around." Viktor added as though expecting Yuuri's next words.

"Good, Georgi has it bad enough with you talking about me all the time. He doesn't need to endure sitting through the videos watching session with you. It is bad enough you would make Yurio watch it, but at least Yurio would tell you to bugger off if he didn't want you bothering him. Georgi is too polite to turn you away." Yuuri responded then, and only half-way through when he caught the intrigue look in Phichit's eyes did he realized his slip-up.

It is one thing for him to know Viktor on a personal scale, but totally another when he started giving off the impression that he knows all the members on team Russia well. The Sochi GPF trip might explain some, such as how he gets to know Yurio's traits and personality quirks… but it certainly won't tell him how Georgi tends to behave.

"Yuuri… are you on good terms with members of team Russia?" Phichit interjected then, reminding both Viktor and Yuuri of his presence and that they were speaking to one another on speaker mode.

"…" Yuuri was silent as he tries to come up with a plausible response to explain how well he knows the members of team Russia.

Thankfully, Viktor was fast to react. "Of course, I think I blabbed a little too much about Yuuri to my rink-mates. I can't vouch for the rest, but I think Yurio and Mila likes Yuuri or at the least they enjoy Yuuri's company. As for how Yuuri knows of Georgi's possible reaction, all I could say is Mila is good at gossiping…"

"Yes, I've heard about how you barged into the hotel room of Georgi Popovich and started telling him about how talented I was during your Skate Canada trip from Mila." Yuuri hurried to add-on, grateful for the cover-up of his slip from Viktor.

"Oh… but I wasn't exaggerating, you are quite talented." Viktor then proceeded to gush on how good Yuuri's at dancing, and even spilling forth the dance-off happening during the GPF banquet at Sochi.

"What? A dance-off between Chris and Yuuri? Why wasn't I aware of it?" Phichit's attention was then drawn towards the events of the Sochi Banquet, and while Yuuri dreaded the photos and videos Viktor most likely had stashed in his phone somewhere would make its way into Phichit's hold – he was grateful that the banquet events had lure Phichit's attention away from his earlier slip-up.

"Maybe Chris didn't want to broadcast that he lost to Yuuri?" Viktor commented as he continues to tell Phichit of how bold Yuuri was after drinking all that champagne.

"Wow… Yuuri, how much did you had to drink that night? I'm surprise you can remember it all." Phichit commented after Viktor finished re-telling the tale from the GPF banquet in Sochi.

"…I remembered because I wasn't pissed drunk, I think I had about eighteen to twenty flutes of champagne that night." Yuuri commented and it causes Phichit's jaw to drop slightly, considering that a standard 750 ml bottle contained about 6 flutes of champagne… eighteen flutes is like at least 3 bottles of champagne drank by Yuuri that evening.

"Just how much alcohol do you need in your system to get you piss drunk enough to blank out on everything?" Phichit could not help but wonders.

"Depending on what type of alcohol you are looking at, if its' champagne… three bottles to get tipsy, four bottles to get drunk… and at least six bottles to get completely knocked out." Yuuri paused, doing a comparison between his two Sochi banquet experience before responding.

"Mind telling me how did you know this? Don't tell me you actually had someone does an experiment on your alcohol tolerance level before…" Phichit sweat-dropped as he questions Yuuri on the topic, and Viktor seconded Phichit's question.

"Heard it from someone since I'm the type whom cannot remember things after getting too drunk… my memory tends to go fuzzy by the time I reached the fourth bottle. The rest I heard it from Takumi of Y2K boys, apparently they want to test my alcohol tolerance level some years back after one of the concert event." Yuuri was force to elaborate on his response under Phichit's curiosity and Viktor's obvious interest, but he refuses to mention about his tendency to challenge people into a dance-off when completely drunk though. The only one who knows that is Mihato from Y2K Boys, and Yuuri highly doubt Viktor would get a chance to know the other … so he's more than willing to let things rot where it is.

Seeing as this time around he wasn't the one who started the dance-off challenge thing, and the last time around he challenge Yurio first… Yuuri was very willing to let Viktor think Yurio's insults flung at him in the bathroom was what spurs the dance-off challenge in their earlier time-line and this time around, it just goes to show that he's more daring and bold after getting tipsy from the alcohol.

"Hm…m… what about other types of alcohol? How good is your tolerance at them?" Viktor wonders then, and Yuuri had to resist rolling his eyes at the Russian's words.

"I don't drink hard liquor, so I guess if I were to gauge… I would get knock out before the bottle was empty. Cocktails are hard to gauge as different type of cocktails has different alcohol levels, so it really depends. In terms of red wine, I'll say two and a half bottles is enough to get me quite drunk but not to the state of complete blank-out drunk though. I don't know how much red wine it would take to knock me out, since no one had ever tried testing me on that before." Yuuri responded matter-of-factly.

"Interesting… when did you say the tickets for the musical is up for sale again?" Viktor mused for a second before changing the subject of conversation.

"14th January 2016, I'll remind you again when the time comes." Yuuri responded distractedly as he started checking the clothes that need launder to see if there is anything stuff in the pockets or not.

"Speaking of the musical, Yuuri… Haruka was saying that he wants to speak with you but he didn't tell me what was it about, just that for you to contact him as soon as possible." Phichit told Yuuri then.

"I know, I need to speak with him as well…" Yuuri responded, but keeping it to himself the reason Haruka wanted to speak with him. He thinks it has something to do with the début of the group, and it's probably not just him that Haruka wanted to speak with… but well, he could deal with it later tonight. Knowing Haruka, the guy just wanted to straighten out all their schedules so they could tell the representative about when would be the best time for the meet-up in person to discuss further details about the début.

Yuuri continues the three-way conversation for another half an hour or so, before he ends the call requesting for Viktor to go back to his training because unlike him who has decided to sit out from the Four Continents, Viktor has the European Cup coming up. Yuuri could only thanked his lucky stars that Viktor wasn't as reluctant to end the call this time as compared to the past, although Yuuri supposed this had something to do with the conversation being three-way between Viktor and both Phichit and him as compared to a private conversation between the two of them.

After Yuuri ended the call with Viktor, Phichit shifted his full attention back to Yuuri as he asks. "So, you're really going to sit out from the Four Continents?"

"Of course, I do want to graduate and the only way I could do it is to sit out the Four Continents and World. I had already informed the JSF of it, and they had processed my request already." Yuuri told Phichit. Well, he didn't exactly tell the JSF but he had told Kasumi about it when he spoke with her after the concert at Kitara Concert Hall. Kasumi had responded that she will help to send his request to the JSF management team, and Yuuri had not received any calls from JSF seeking clarifications yet so he supposed either the request went through without any problems or they are still processing it.

"Oh… by the way, I heard from Celestino that you are not going to continue skating under his guidance?" Phichit then asks, somewhat hesitantly.

"Hm…m…? Oh, that… yes, it's true that I won't be renewing my contract with Celestino. That doesn't means I'm going to stop coming by DSC for self-practice though. Although, due to the requirements for graduation I might not go over too often." Yuuri responded, as he separated the pile of clothes into hand-wash and machine-wash two separate piles for the convenience of the housekeeper that comes by regularly to collect their laundry.

"So, have you gotten a new coach yet?" Phichit asks curiously then, he had tried asking Celestino but the Italian American had told him to ask Yuuri instead.

"Hm..m… more like someone volunteered, and I see no harm in letting the person try… who knows, he might suit the role exceptionally." Yuuri muses out loud but refused to come outright with the announcement that Viktor is going to take up the role of his coach. Why spoil the surprise now… and he believes Viktor would enjoy dropping the surprise himself, so Yuuri tries not to spoil it for the Russian.

~to be continued~

Date completed: 21/4/17.


	57. Chapter 57

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original

Chapter 57

"Come on, Makka… let's go for our walk." Viktor announced after his arrival home from another day of training.

Makkachin trotted over to Viktor eagerly, although it doesn't really understand why their recent walk consists of trips to local pet-shops or animal shelters. However, it matters not so long she could spend time with her usually busy master.

Viktor Nikiforov enjoys the luxury of having shorter training time for this week, although this is a result from a bargain with Yakov. It is a good thing that Yakov wanted to work with the junior members of their rink for this week to ready them for the impending National Championship for juniors coming up this month end. Of course, Yakov's main concentration is on Yurio but the man wanted to see if there are other skaters among the juniors that are good and could give Yurio a run for his money. At least, that is what Viktor thought Yakov's intention was… because Yurio needs some challenge among competitors his age group to keep the teen on his feet.

Either way, Viktor is glad that his request to leave the rink early was approved by Yakov because that gives him the opportunity to bring Makkachin out for a walk and to go in search for the perfect kitten for Yurio.

"I'll bet you 100 rubles that Viktor was allowed to leave the rink this early because of the headache he has caused Yakov since this morning." Mila Babicheva whispered to Georgi Popovich when she was clear to go on her break.

"Yes well… but Yakov probably allows it partly not to have Viktor around distracting Yuri with all that talk about Katsuki." Georgi responded with a shrug, keeping half his focus on his text message with his girlfriend – Anya.

Mila took one look at Georgi's face before bursting out in laughter, and said. "Well, I'm sorry that you had to endure Viktor's endless chatters about Yuuri… but in one way or another, you have to get used to it. Especially, considering that Yuuri will be coming over to join us in Saint Petersburg from next season… it's bound to get worse."

Georgi paused in his task of messaging Anya, slowly turning towards Mila and asks. "What do you mean by Katsuki is coming over to join us in Saint Petersburg from next season? It wasn't in Yakov's nature to take up a skater of another nationality under his wing."

"You mean Viktor didn't mention anything of it to you when he was telling you all about Yuuri's awesomeness?" Mila raised an eyebrow in surprise at Georgi's reaction, before responding to Georgi's question.

"Yuuri is coming over to join us in Saint Petersburg because Viktor volunteers to take Yuuri on as a student under his wing. Yakov allows it because he doesn't want Viktor to retire when our resident idiot still have at least two to three years worth in competitive skating. Granted, Yakov thinks it's folly of Viktor to attempt coaching and competing at the same time but you know how Viktor is … once he got something in mind, nothing could stop him. Hence the compromises from Yakov…" Mila explains and was quite entertain by the myriad of expressions that switches around on Georgi's face.

"…Does anyone outside of us knows this little piece of information yet?" Georgi raised an eyebrow in question then.

"I don't think so… you know how Viktor is like with all the surprise element, so he's actually keeping things quiet. So far, only Yakov, Yurio and I was inform and now you hearing it from me. Of course, Yuuri himself and his coach Celestino Cialdini knows… but I think that's about it." Mila responded still whispering to Georgi, as she didn't want to end up as the culprit in giving away Viktor's surprise to the others.

"…What does our Yuri thinks of it?" Georgi asks out of curiosity.

It took Mila a second, but eventually she works out Georgi's hidden meaning and smirked. "Don't be fooled by Yurio's outward response. He may not acts it, but I believed he is secretly pleased with the outcome."

"Well… he has always admired Viktor, even after finding out that Viktor is an idiot under all that fame and glory. So, I think he would be pleased with any outcome so long Viktor isn't going to disappear from his sight." Georgi commented with an easy shrug, but a certain look in Mila's eyes has him exasperated again. "Pray tell, just what exactly has I missed from not going to Sochi? Certainly, you don't mean to tell me that Katsuki has our very own Yuri smitten as well?"

Mila could not help it, she burst into laughter and responded. "Oh no… Yurio is most definitely not smitten by Yuuri Katsuki, admiration is there somewhat and maybe a bit of the rivalry mindset but definitely not smitten. As for what you'd missed out from being absent for the Sochi GPF, its' not a lot but it's very enlightening I would say. Oh, and you should have seen the several times Yurio got embarrassed after being subjecting to Viktor's smothering parental acts and when you add Yuuri Katsuki into the mix – the image is downright hilarious."

Georgi falters as his mind drew a blank on the image after Mila's words, Viktor smothering Yuri – he could imagine easily. However, he failed to grasp the image when Katsuki from Japan is throw into the mix. Just what exactly does Mila meant by that? However, before Georgi could try to get Mila into elaborating her earlier words – Yakov was heard yelling for them.

"Mila, Georgi – break's over. Get your feet back on the ice now!" Yakov barked, and the whispering duo hurried to obey the coach's instruction.

Meanwhile, in Detroit – Yuuri Katsuki finally understood the reason for so much free time in his last school term schedule. All that free time slots were to use for the joint training sessions with Kanade, Haruka and Hiroaki in preparation for the début of Shinos. That, and the rehearsals for all the performances the school had arranged for him to gain his necessary credits for graduation.

There is a fund-raising charity concert organized by one of the orphanages and UNIKII, and the performance would be taking place during end January in Hill Auditorium of Michigan. There are also two round of concert performances lined up by Queen Records for the Animation Theme Songs Orchestra Performances, one schedule in New York and the other in Boston. There is another round of concert for the same series lined up in March after graduation in Japan, Tokyo. Sadly enough, the dates clashes with the World Championship Tournament which Viktor is taking part in…

'Hm..m… looks like I had to bail out on Viktor, but being the leader for flute section – I can't exactly skip the concert. Well, Viktor won't like it… but he will endure and I'll just make it up for him during the week he's here in Detroit for the musical.' Yuuri thought as he mark down the date and make a mental note to speak with Viktor about it later in the day.

Looking through his email account, he found an email from the Japan branch of the Artist Management company about his being invited to take part in the recording of the late Takemitsu Toru piano composition works. If he choose to accept the job, there would be someone contacting him about the schedule and payment scheme soon. Of course, not to forget the email sends from Haruka double confirming his schedule for the week. They would be meeting up with the representative of the Artist Management Company this weekend to discuss further details on the Shinos début project.

"Oh well…responding to the emails could wait, it's time to head back for the recording again." Yuuri murmurs to himself as he log out from his email application on his mobile and redirect his energy back to the task at hand.

Yuuri was on his way out from the recording studio, about to hail a cab to bring him back on campus when he received the call from Viktor.

"Viktor? Looking at the time now, aren't you supposed to report at the rink already?" Yuuri asks sounding curious, as it weren't like Viktor to call him without messaging before-hand to check on his availability.

"Usually yes, but not today. Yakov pushes back the training time for today because of some personal issues to attend. Enough for that though, Yuuri~ help me out here for a minute." Viktor suddenly change his tone of voice and adopted a pleading expression on his face while calling out for Yuuri's attention.

"Okay… what is it now?" Yuuri started, an unreadable look taking over the Asian's features as he responded to Viktor's video call.

"I was walking Makka at the park, and somehow Makka refuses to budge from a cardboard box sitting by the side of the trash bin and I'm now at a loss of how to get Makka away and back to the apartment." Viktor voiced his dilemma across seeking his beloved Yuuri's help on it.

"…It isn't like Makka to do something like this, have you check what was in the box yet? If you haven't I suggest you check what's inside first, something about the box must have caught Makkachin's interest if it doesn't want to move from the spot." Yuuri advised, inwardly wondering if Makkachin had found the perfect kitty for Yurio.

Yuuri distinctively recalls the blond saying something about he found his pet kitten as a stray while on one of his morning jog through the park. However, that was several years ago so Yuuri wasn't sure which park Yurio has been on his morning jog when the kitten was chanced upon by the teen.

Thee was a minute of delay before Yuuri saw Viktor's wide-eyed look through the video call, and announced that there is a kitten sitting in the cardboard box. It was mewing pitifully and its' cries were so soft that Viktor failed to notice it the first time around.

"Well… seeing as it is sitting inside a cardboard box by the side of the trash bin, either it's a stray or it has recently being abandoned by its' owner. The soft cries for attention may hint towards a weak and frail physical state or it's a newly born kitten that doesn't have the strength yet. Either way, I suggest to bring it to the vet with the box if you aren't sure how to deal with it. I'm sure the vet would advise you appropriately afterwards." Yuuri told the wide-eyed Viktor as he advised the Russian on the next plan of action while keeping an eye out on the cabs in the area.

"Right… the vet. I need to go, I'll update you on the status again after bringing the kitty to the vet." With that, Viktor ended the call in a rush.

Yuuri stared at the abruptly disconnected call screen, before shrugging and decided to call for a cab instead of trying to flag down one on the busy streets of downtown Detroit.

In the end, it was a car honks that distracted Yuuri from the task of trying to call for a cab. Looking over to the source of the car honk, Yuuri found himself staring into the familiar face of one Hasegawa Hiroaki.

"Hasegawa-san, you're back from Chicago already?" Yuuri started a little surprise to see the man back in town.

"Well…duh, school is resuming session soon. Besides, don't we have that scheduled meeting with the representative from the artist management company this weekend? Speaking of, call me Hiroaki instead of Hasegawa… it makes me thought of my parents' when you addressed me by my family name." Hasegawa Hiroaki told Yuuri before making an offer to drive Yuuri back to the school dormitory building.

"Thanks for the ride then. How's Chicago by the way?" Yuuri asks as he slipped into the passenger seat of the car.

"It's fine… happening as always." Hiroaki responded with a shrug, knowing that Yuuri's just making an effort at engaging small talks.

"How did you competition goes? You're in Chicago for a competition right?" Yuuri asks uncertainly as he didn't really know Hasegawa Hiroaki, and for a second he feared he had remembered the guy's career wrongly.

"Well… it is a competition alright, but nowhere near the Gland Slam level. I'm still earning points where I am… my world ranking is absolutely pathetic." Hiroaki sighed as he responded to Yuuri's question.

"Ah… so I assumed you are keen on the début then?" Yuuri commented, as he waited for the guy to respond.

"I wouldn't say keen but it's not unwelcome. Frankly speaking, I need the income… I'm not getting any prize money from my competition unless I make it into the main tournament. While every win I get points accumulated, the loss would also deducted points from me. Right now, I am apparently on my losing streak and sometimes it makes me wonder whether going professional in tennis has been a good decision or not. Although, I supposed I had it better than some since my family is rich enough to continue throwing money my way but it doesn't makes me feel any less like a failure living off my family fortunes." Hiroaki shakes his head despondently as he responded.

"Well… I guess this is a question that we all had to face at some times during our professional athletic career." Yuuri eventually said, he doesn't know enough about tennis league to comment but the feeling of being on a losing streak – this particular one he could relate to.

The rest of the journey back to the school dormitory was travel in silence, unlike the Shinomiya siblings and Yuuri – Hasegawa Hiroaki wasn't a full-time student member of UNIKII. Hiroaki is only studying part-time in UNIKII and his course wasn't even in the performing arts' faculty but in the fields of Sports and Wellness Management. The only reason the man was short-listed in the upcoming idol group unit was probably his family members owns a partial share in the artists' management company. Hell, Yuuri was more than willing to bet that Hiroaki's entry into the 'Battle of the Band' competition was actually more of a procedure thing to give the company an excuse to shortlist the man for the idol group.

Yuuri had done some research work after speaking with Kanade, apparently this time around – members of the Shinos are chosen based on looks, popularity and sports abilities. A few of the partnership companies sponsoring Shinos début project includes the Sports Association of Japan; Tennis Association of Japan; Japanese Skating Federation; National Football Association of Japan and Mizuno Corporation of Japan. So, the theme for this idol project is to package Shinos into Sports Idols.

'Well… it at least solved the mystery of my involvement this time around. They need a face to represent Japan, and now I'm the only possible candidate – what's with the recent Sochi GPF ranking and results. Not to forget I already have stage experience under my belt, less time needed for the training if the management is looking at the prospect of riding on the government latest promotion campaign on promoting sports programs in schools.' Yuuri sighed inwardly as he finally found the reason behind his own short-listing for the idol group.

There has never been any questions of the Shinomiya siblings debuting and entering the showbiz industry, because they are already half-active in it. Add in Shinomiya Haruka's past experience representing Japan on the Youth's Team – Under 15 group for Soccer and Kanade's past experience of being chosen for the U-16 Tennis Youth's Team… All the company needs is to get in another two members that is active in sports league and the unit is form. Yuuri guess that is when he starts to enter the consideration list of the management since he assumed Hiroaki would be selected either way, if his family members were the one whom brings up the project in the first place.

Pulling out his phone, he dialed the number of Kasumi and waited patiently for the other party to pick up the call.

"Yuuri? Why the sudden call? Is anything the matter?" Kasumi sounded concern on the other end of the line, as it wasn't a common occurrence for Yuuri to call her up without a valid reason.

"With regards to the topic I broached with you a few weeks ago, when is the earliest date you can start?" Yuuri went straight to the point as soon as Kasumi answered the call.

"…I'm finishing with my internship with JSF this weekend. After that, I had a week of final examinations on campus. If you need me to start as soon as possible, I can make the arrangement to join you in Detroit after my exams. Although, I have to warn that my academic transcripts and certification of graduation probably won't be available until end February or early March 2016." Kasumi responded solemnly.

"That will be great; I'll tell Kanade to expect you in two weeks then. Until then, I'll share PA with Kanade…" Yuuri responded, thanking Kasumi for the help before calling up Kanade about Kasumi's arrival date and that until Kasumi reports to him – he would need to share Kanade PA for the time-being.

"Its fine, I'm sure Satsuki won't mind doing it. Unlike Haruka, I'm actually quite free at this point of time at least until the début. So, does this mean that you're debuting with us as a group since you are getting in a PA for yourself?" Kanade asks then.

"I don't think I could turn down the suggestion in the first place; there wasn't really an offer but just a notification for a meet-up with the representative. Besides, considering JSF is a part of this sports idol project thing… I doubt I could turn down either way. I am however going to look into the prospect of getting JSF and the Artist Management Company to pay the salary for my PA under this circumstance." Yuuri stated flatly as he prepared himself mentally for the negotiation to come.

It is one thing for him to take part in ISU official competition events, and take part in music performances on the sidelines by his own will. It is another thing entirely for him going along with the promotion campaign detailed by the various participating sponsoring companies for the sports idol project thing, continue to take part in figure-skating events organized by the ISU and those ad-hoc random events organized by JSF. Well, there is a good thing out of this whole thing though… which is his budget for travel expenses would rise, no doubt.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 23/4/17.


	58. Chapter 58

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original

Chapter 58

"Vitya! Pray tell why is that over-sized big puppy of yours in here? I thought I had warned you repeatedly to leave it with someone else when you comes in for your training?" Yakov barked upon his arrival at the rink, the voice is so loud that if it was anyone who doesn't knows Yakov's way of doing things – they would have cringe in fear. For Viktor though, the now twenty-eight year old Russian was hardly fazed.

"Sorry Yakov, run into some mishaps during morning walk today and didn't have time to bring Makka back home before coming over. I promised Makka would behaved and not disrupt the training, I'm keeping her on the leash so her presence would not frighten any visitors." Viktor hurried to explain, as he pointed to the leash on Makkachin's collar that is now tied to one of the pillar wall.

"…Is your dog potty-trained at least?" Yakov rolled his eyes eventually and asks in a huff.

"Of course, but I'm not so sure how Makka will fare being in an unfamiliar environment. Worse case scenario, I will clean up after Makka." Viktor eventually responded.

"Well, you'd heard him so if his pet does anything – get him to clean up after it." Yakov told the janitor working at the rink pointedly.

With that, the training session that had delayed for an hour started under the instruction of Yakov Feltsman.

When Yurio arrived at the rink from school, the first thing he noticed was the presences of Viktor's over-size puppy – Makkachin with its head bend into a cardboard box. Finding it strange for the puppy being present at the rink, Yurio found himself walking purposely towards the poodle's direction. As he passes by Makkachin, Yurio snuck a glance into the cardboard box that seems to have caught the poodle utmost attention. This one glance was enough to have the fifteen year old Yuri Plisetsky rooted to the spot.

Inside the cardboard box sat a little kitten that stare back at Viktor's over-size puppy unflinchingly. This is the first time Yurio came across a cat that was totally unaffected by the presences of a dog, hence his intrigue. Still, his interest in the kitten's reaction to Makkachin's presence aside… he was more interested in finding out just whom does the brave kitten belongs to. That, and why are the pets here at the rink today? Did someone declared a pet's outing day without his knowing?

"Can anyone enlighten me just why are there pets in here?" Reluctantly, Yurio shifted his eyes away from the adorable kitten in his eyes and turn towards the rest of his rink-mates whom are now practicing on the ice and asks.

"Huh? Pets…? The only pet in here is Viktor's poodle, where did the plural come from?" Georgi Popovich whom just happens to hover closer to where Yurio stood was the first to respond.

"…There's a kitten sitting in that cardboard box." Yurio deadpan, looking straight into the eyes of Georgi as he responded.

"Oh… then it must have belongs to Viktor too, he came in with that poodle dog of his and a cardboard box earlier today but we didn't know there's a kitten in the box though." Georgi responded in response to the blond teen's words.

"OI, Old Man!" Yurio called out to Viktor then, and upon noticing the man turning in his direction asks. "Are you aware there's a kitten sitting in that cardboard box of yours?"

"Hm…m…? Oh, Yurio~ You're here! Judging from your question, I'm taking it that you had seen him already?" Viktor directed a beaming smile towards the teen's direction, causing Yurio to look even more bewildered than before.

"Him? Are you talking about the kitten in the box?" Yurio blinked twice, after a slight hesitation spoke up as he directed his query towards the still beaming Viktor Nikiforov.

"Of course I am." Viktor nodded enthusiastically as he told the fifteen-year old cat lovers.

"Oh… okay, so why do you have a kitten with you today? Surely, you aren't thinking of getting a new pet, are you? Even if so, aren't you more of a dog lover?" Yurio started, his eyes flicking over to where the cardboard box was every few minutes, obviously interested in the kitten's origin.

"Nah… nope, I'm happy enough with Makka. I actually chanced upon the kitten in the park, someone placed it in the box and leave it there alone to fend for itself. Alright, maybe I should amend my statement a bit. Makka found the kitten, not me." Viktor amended his statement when he heard a bark from his poodle's direction, as though the poodle understood his words and was trying to correct his misinformation.

"Okay… so you found the kitten in the park, but what possessed you to bring it over here?" Yurio frowned as he clarify.

"Well, the kitten wasn't feeling too good under the weather so together with Makka we brought it to the vet. After visiting the vet, my first thought was to drop the kitten off at the animal shelter but because time is running out so I decided to bring them both over for practice first. The trip to the animal shelter could wait…" Viktor observed Yurio's reaction carefully as he brought up his plan of dropping the kitten off at the animal shelter.

"You're sending it to the animal shelter?" Yurio could not help but blurted out in shock.

"Well… it's just a thought, I guess ultimately the decision lies with you. So, do you want to keep the kitten around or not?" Viktor prompted, stunning the teen into silence and surprise.

Yurio stared at Viktor with incomprehension, and then he started warily. "What do you mean by the decision lies with me?"

"Well… I'm giving you the choice of keeping the kitten as a pet, so do you want it or not?" Viktor prompt Yurio again, the smile never wavers as he waited for the teen to decide about the fate of the kitten.

"Really? You'll let me keep the kitten around as a pet, despite the fact that both you and Katsudon are more of a poodle lover?" Yurio asks, half longing and half skeptical of Viktor's words.

"Yes, I'm serious with the suggestion. I'm sure Yuuri feels the same way." Viktor added the second part of his response as an afterthought.

"…You are suggesting it with the understanding that you will probably be the one taking care of the kitten until I moved over to your place officially, right? What's with the 'no pets policy' at my school dorm building…" Yurio kindly reminded Viktor that he won't be moving over until March after his school graduation.

"Of course, although the housekeeper would be the one looking after both Makka and the kitten most of the time. Since, I can't exactly bring them over to the rink on daily basis… Yakov would have my head if this happens too often." Viktor responded with a shrug.

"Petya." Yurio suddenly said, causing Viktor to blink stupidly for a minute.

"I beg your pardon?" Viktor asks.

"That's my decision, the kitten's new name shall be Petya." Yurio announced, smiling as he turn back to the box and picked the kitten up from within and coo-ed over his latest pet earnestly.

"Oh my… this is so cute, isn't it?" Viktor asks glancing at Makkachin as he voiced a-loud his thoughts on the sight of Yurio cooing to the kitten. Makkachin barked a soft bark in response as though agreeing with Viktor's opinions, and the next thing Viktor did was to snap a picture of that scene and send it over to Yuuri on Whatsapp.

To Yuuri: [Attached Image File] Isn't this cute? BTW, Yurio named the kitten Petya it seems.

It didn't take long for Viktor to receive a response from Yuuri, a quick look at the time reminded Viktor of the time difference situation again. So, Viktor gathered his message must have reached Yuuri before the Asian retires for bed.

To Viktor: I agree it's cute, but do refrain from teasing Yurio too much. I won't be responsible if he finally snapped and decided to kick you in retaliation. Seeing as Yurio has named the kitten, I assumed that the kitten is staying? In that case, please remember to buy cat food after you end your training for the day. If you weren't sure which type of cat food to get, please consult the staff working at the pet shop.

It wasn't that Yuuri wants to nag at Viktor, but he just wants to prevent Viktor from feeding the kitten Makkachin food because he had forgotten about getting in cat food for the kitten. While Yuuri doesn't have much idea on cat-rearing, he thought even if the kitten doesn't reacts hostile to Makka's presence it does not means it will enjoy being fed dog's food.

"Wow, what a surprise… you haven't slept yet? I would have thought you would already be asleep by now." Phichit's voice draws Yuuri out from his thoughts, upon his return from the rehearsal session for the musical.

"…I think I've finally recovered from the lethargy of the jet-lag. I take it the rehearsal session over-run again?" Yuuri put away his phone once his message has been send and shifted his attention towards Phichit instead.

"Not really, it actually ends on time today. The reason why I'm only back at this hour is because of the extra training session with Celestino after the rehearsal when the ice was available for regular training use." Phichit explains as he made his way into the attached bathroom for a shower.

"I see… well, you do have the Thai Nationals coming up in April and with the musical show set on 21st March, there really isn't a lot of time for you to brush up your programs routine. I think that's why Celestino had you stayed back after the musical rehearsal sessions for the regular figure-skating training." Yuuri commented after a minute of contemplation.

"I know but it doesn't makes it any less tiring though… how do you deal with it usually?" Phichit frowned as he asks before he hits the shower.

"No idea, to me it has becomes a part of my daily routine. If it's any consolation, you can start a mental countdown or something. It is already January, so another 74 days to the musical performance date and after that you would be free." Yuuri shrugged as he told Phichit, he has gotten so accustomed to his busy schedule that he might actually feels weird if he was suddenly free from commitments.

"Right… we shall continue the conversation later, the showers are calling for my attention." Phichit mumbled as he closed the bathroom door after his entry.

Yuuri shakes his head at Phichit's words, he was more than willing to bet that once Phichit was done with the shower – the guy would be asleep within minutes after his head hits the pillow. After all, a full day rehearsal session combined with the regular training session with Celestino can be quite taxing not just on the physical body but also on the mind. This is something Yuuri is very aware of, he was after all doing it on regular basis.

Yuuri then shifted his attention back to his phone, one of the reason his response to Viktor was so prompt was because he had his phone on hand with the contemplation to reach out to Miranda Cornwell. He was contemplating on contacting Miranda with the topic of seeking the female help in composing the piece 'Yuri on Ice' for his free skate program next season, but he found himself hesitating as there was a 50% chance of the music coming out completely different from what he remembered. So, it all boils down to whether he wants the music to end up completely similar to the music he used in his earlier time-line or he wants a different piece of music for his free-skate program in this new time-line. If he wants to keep it as close to the original music he had used before, he might as well try composing it himself since he had the main melody in mind.

"Why don't you do both?" Kanade had asks back in return when he voiced his dilemma to the guy the next day during the break in between classes.

"What do you mean?" Yuuri frowned.

"Go ahead and approached Miranda to commission a piece, and at the same time try to create the music you want in mind since you had the main melody already. You can always decide which piece you want to use for your skating later." Kanade had said easily without dwelling too much on the subject.

"Pray tell what do you suggest to do with the extra piece of music then?" Yuuri raised an eyebrow up in question at Kanade then.

"Well… you can always keep the alternate piece for the next season, or you can include it in our mini-album? They are in the midst of collecting and selecting songs for our début album as of current… who knows, if you're lucky the song would actually get selected and recorded in our upcoming mini-album. Although, they might end up tweaking the music a little to fit in the lyrics if it was select for our album." Kanade mused and that marks the end of their conversation for this topic.

Yuuri had no idea what spurs him into doing exactly what Kanade had advised him to do, but ultimately he had reached out to Miranda on the topic and while he provided the main melody tune to Miranda… Yuuri had a gut feeling that the music would still comes out differently from the original piece composed in the earlier time-line despite the composer being the same person. True to Yuuri's premonition, the music send his way by Miranda was nothing like what he remembered and after a comparison between the music composed by Miranda this time around, and the music he had re-created with Kanade's help – he send the piece he had re-created with Kanade's help to Viktor.

To Viktor: [attach music file] New FS music piece – I shall leave the choreography to you. It's still untitled, we can decide the title for the piece later.

As for the music composed by Miranda, because of the same melody used but different arrangement – it ended up going into the mini-album of Shinos as a solo piece for Yuuri. Granted, Yuuri wasn't aware of it until the point where the group started their recording for the album… since Kanade took the music saying he wants to work on it a little after Yuuri made his choice of which music to use for the free skate in the coming seasons.

Two weeks later, Miranda Cornwell received an email from Queen Records about buying the copyright of her compositions that Yuuri Katsuki had commissioned her to compose for his skating programs. Before she knows it, both her new composition and her old returned composition for Yuuri's skating programs has ended up being purchased by Queen Records and she had received a reasonable sum of payment for the rights to the music. Out of courtesy, Miranda had contacted Yuuri about the two pieces copy right was bought-over by Queen Records and she wasn't sure what they intended to do with the pieces.

To Miranda: No worries, I had an idea on what they intended to do with it. Thank you for notifying me either way.

The meeting with the Artist Management Company representative has went well, and the contract details straightened out between the members of Shinos and the company. Shinos – would be packaged and début as the sports idol group, this is a certainty. There will be various campaigns and events the group has to attend, they might even be invited to put on a show at various sports events during the opening or closing ceremony at times. Commercials filming for products under Mizuno sports branding is mandatory, and other sports related products endorsement projects are in the midst of discussion between the company and relevant organizations.

The group has been allocated to a manager in charge from the Artist Management Company, and each members were urge to engage a PA that will be in charge of communications between the company and the members . The artist management company would not be responsible to assign a PA to the members of Shinos because unlike other idol group unit, members of the Shinos have other commitments to relevant sports organizations.

For instances, Hasegawa Hiroaki is a listed professional tennis player under the Tennis Association of Japan, and Yuuri Katsuki is register under the Japanese Skating Federation. While Shinomiya Haruka isn't an active sports athletic member of any association, his name remains on the reserve member lists of the National team. The same to go for Shinomiya Kanade, whom is on the reserve member lists of the Tennis Association of Japan. Should there be a need to, the association shall have the rights to put the Shinomiya siblings back on the team.

Either way, the PA's salary would be split between the artist management company and the respective sports organization and the member of Shinos themselves. Currently, Yuuri does not have a PA and when questioned by the company – Yuuri responded that his PA would start work in another week's time until then he would share PA with Shinomiya Kanade.

"Alright, I think this is all… do send your PA over to the office for a briefing upon his/her arrival." The manager in charge – Lydia told Yuuri before taking her leave from the campus of UNIKII Detroit.

"Finally, now anyone care to join me for lunch?" Hasegawa Hiroaki asks, stretching to loosen his stiff-like muscles as he stood from the chair he was force to sit still for the past hour.

"Unfortunately, I have to get back to my orchestra rehearsal but I'm sure the other two would obliged your invitation." Yuuri sighed as he bid farewell to the trio, bowing politely before leaving the room.

"I'm afraid I had to decline as well, I've got the musical rehearsal to get back to… Kanade shall keep you company over lunch." Haruka excused himself soon after as he started making his way to the Detroit Skating Club.

"Alright, let's go for lunch then." Kanade patted Hiroaki on the shoulders in a brotherly way, before leading the way to the school cafeteria area. "I hope you don't mind dining on campus, I don't have time to travel out for lunch now as I have regular class scheduled this afternoon."

"A class on weekend, seriously?" Hiroaki raised an eyebrow up in skepticism as he questions Kanade.

"Yes, well – it's a replacement lesson. I have a photo-shoot for Levi's jeans next Monday morning so I'm taking the lesson this afternoon to replace my absence on Monday." Kanade responded with a shrug. Currently, he doesn't have much jobs on hand aside from the ongoing photo-shoots for Levi's Jeans and the weekly tennis club training session in downtown Detroit tennis clubhouse on Sunday morning.

Kanade then send his PA to Yuuri for the day as he doesn't have much to do over the weekend. Yuuri, however, has a dozen of rehearsals lined up for the weekend aside from the obvious replacement classes to attend on campus. After all, Yuuri has the fund-raising concert and that Animation Theme Songs Orchestra Performance coming up over the next two weeks period. Not to forget, there is also the joint vocal training classes for them all to attend and the recording session that is to come as soon as the songs was decide upon.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 24/4/17.


	59. Chapter 59

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters.

Chapter 59

Date: 20th March 2016

Venue: Detroit, Michigan – United States of America

Yuuri gaped at the sight that meet his eyes in the arrival hall of Detroit Metropolitan Airport, it took Kasumi a poke in his rib to regain his control of his expression. Taking a deep breath to brace himself for the attention to come, Yuuri strolled up-front to meet Viktor and Christophe Giacometti as well as the Swiss skater's coach.

"Welcome to Detroit, although I have to say I wasn't expecting you here … Chris." Yuuri greeted as he stopped in front of the newly arrived trio.

"Well, someone volunteered to pay for the tickets to the show so I thought why not?" Chris smirked as he glances over to the excited Viktor from the corner of his eyes as he responded.

"I see…" Yuuri murmurs as he tried to pry Viktor off him and removed himself from the Russian's tight embrace.

"Sheesh, Viktor – care to remember we are in public now? Granted, this is no Russia but still … we are in the arrival hall of the airport you know? I do not want to risk paparazzi catching us in this intimate position, at least wait until we checked you in at the hotel before anything else." Yuuri eventually spoke up and remind the Russian man clinging to him when slight nudges failed to remind the man of the fact that they are still in public view.

"Oops, sorry. I can't help it, I'm too happy to see you." Viktor responded, a sheepish look on his face as he look at Yuuri.

"I know… I'm happy to see you here as well, so how long do you have in Detroit before having to report at Boston?" Yuuri questions as he nodded for Kasumi to pick a few of their VIP guest audiences up seeing as he probably won't be able to do it himself.

"I have a week, Yakov gave me till 25th March and for me to join him at Boston by 26th March 2016. He wanted at least 2 days with me before I took to the ice for the World Championship on 28th March 2016." Viktor answered truthfully, while he was quite disappointed that Yuuri had to cancel out on joining him in Boston – he is also aware that it cannot be helped since it would not look good for Yuuri to skip his first official performance after graduation.

Therefore, once he heard the news from Yuuri, he had pleaded with Yakov and appealed relentlessly until the old coach gave in to his request of staying the entire week in Detroit with Yuuri before flying over to meet the rest of the team in Boston. Thankfully, the event planner assigned to Team Russia this time around is one that has previous experience working with them and so didn't even bat an eyelid about having to book Viktor's air ticket to Boston separately from Yakov.

"So, Chris… how long are you planning to stay in Detroit?" Yuuri then shifted his eyes from Viktor to the Swiss man and asks.

"2-3 days I guess, ultimately the decision lies with my coach." Chris responded glancing over at his coach – Josef Karpisek whom is studying the local map taken from one of the directory booth of the terminal.

"Well, in any case I hope you enjoy your stay here in Detroit." Yuuri responded before assisting to help load the trio luggage into the car boot of the awaiting cab that was book in advanced to bring the trio to the hotel they were staying.

"Kasumi, meet me at the hotel lobby once you get the guests settled. There's someone I want you to meet." Yuuri called Kasumi on his mobile, as he settled himself into the seat next to Viktor for the cab ride.

The hotel which Viktor and Chris as well as Josef Karpisek is staying is within downtown Detroit, while this also meant that Yuuri would have to travel at least an hour car ride every time he intends to meet Viktor… Yuuri was hardly bothered by the situation. If anything, Yuuri was kind of expecting Viktor to pick a hotel in downtown part of Detroit because one of the man's hobby was shopping and partly also because Yuuri knows there isn't much accommodation site closer to where Detroit Skating Club and the UNIKII campus building stood.

Yuuri's initial idea was to introduce Kasumi to Viktor, seeing as Kasumi as his PA would have to handle some duties that has to do with Viktor from time to time – considering what's with Viktor tendency to forget things. Eventually, Yuuri decided to introduce Chris to Kasumi as well especially after Chris has expressed an interest in wanting to know just who Kasumi was.

In the lobby of the hotel which Viktor, Chris and Josef Karpisek is staying, Yuuri stood waiting for his PA to show herself as soon as she had gotten the few VIP guests flying in specially for the musical to settle down.

"Sorry for the delay, a few of them have questions on the transport system in Detroit." Kasumi said as she made her appearance in front of the trio and Yuuri.

"Ah… it's okay, we didn't wait for long either. Anyway, Kasumi – I believed you already know Mr. Josef Karpisek?" Yuuri started, decided to start the introduction process from the coach of Christophe Giacometti first.

"Yes, we've met briefly during my internship period with the JSF." Kasumi responded, nodding to the coach of Christophe Giacometti in acknowledgement and received a nod from the man in return.

"Right, and this sexy man down here is the one and only Christophe Giacometti." Yuuri then turn towards Chris and introduce said man to the blushing PA of his, dryly.

"Do call me Chris, I know my name's a mouthful." Chris said playfully as he throws a wink towards Kasumi causing the latter to blush furiously.

"Last but not least, Kasumi… this is…Viktor Nikiforov." Yuuri said while trying to ignore the feel of Viktor's molesting hands on his hips.

"I know, you do have a bedroom plastered with his posters before…" Kasumi commented in a deadpan expression as she hurriedly shift her eyes away from the epitome of sexual temptation – Christophe Giacometti and turn towards Yuuri and Viktor instead.

If Viktor was not paying attention before, his attention was now fully focused on Kasumi. "I beg your pardon, you've been to Yuuri's bedroom before?" The said Russian was frowning, as his mind wander towards a dozen plausible reasons for Kasumi to have entered Yuuri's room before.

"Viktor… whatever you are thinking, stop it. Kasumi is not my ex-girlfriend if that is what you're thinking about, she's just a good friend of mine during my high school days seeing as neither Yuuko nor Nishigori went to the same high school with me. We tends to study together hence her chance to enter my room and chanced upon just how much of a fan-boy I was of you before." Yuuri explained with a tinge of pink in his cheeks, very much aware of the Swiss skater listening in on his explanation to Viktor.

"Oh… okay, sorry for over-reacting but I can't help it when I'm very aware of how much of a private person you are. The thought that you would allow people entry into your rooms outside of the selected few exception is kind of hard for my mind to grasp." Viktor apologized, pulling on his best puppy eyes look at Yuuri.

"I know… but you have to understand that I'm bound to have a few close friends at each stage of my life alright? Sure, I'm a private person and I kept my social circle generally small and tight but I do have friends outside of Yuuko and Nishigori, okay? So far, you've already met Miyabi and now Kasumi – there's a few more including Yuuko and Nishigori which you would be meeting when you arrived in Hasetsu after the World Championship. Anyway, Kasumi is now my PA and she would be tagging along after me wherever I go from now onwards. No worry about her living with me though, she would be close enough for me to reach her when needed but not shadowing me on a 24 hours basis." Yuuri explained his reasons for wanting to let Viktor meet Kasumi then, and he put it in a roundabout way such that Chris and Josef would not catch on to his underlying hint of the impending shift to Saint Petersburg later.

"Wow… a PA, are you seriously this busy that you need to get in a PA to handle your schedule?" Chris interjected then, when he heard Kasumi mentioning having meet his coach briefly during her internship with the JSF – he had wonder what the young woman is doing here in Detroit. For a while, he had thought the girl was here representing JSF to invite Viktor and him for some events … nothing could have surprised him more than finding out that the girl is actually here because of Yuuri.

"You will be surprise when you know just how ridiculous my schedule could be at times. Speaking of, my schedule is clear for today right?" Yuuri asks as he turn towards Kasumi for clarification.

"Yes, in fact your schedule is clear for the week. There is nothing lined up for the week due to the school's exams, but you do have a rehearsal for the graduation concert on 25th March 2016 afternoon though. That would be the last rehearsal before the official run of the event on the 26th of March 2016." Kasumi responded as she consulted the scheduler on the tablet device provided for her to better manage Yuuri's schedule by the artist management company briefly.

"Okay, and the flight back to Japan was book already?" Yuuri clarifies then, seeing as he has left the booking of flights and hotel arrangement to Kasumi this time after specifying his budget for the trip.

"Yes, the flight is bound for Japan, Narita Airport on 26th March 2016 evening hours. The flight will land in Narita on 27th March 2016 and you have a recording session scheduled at the Tokyo Recording Studio on the 28th of March, at 7 p.m. in the evening." Kasumi quoted off the calendar, leaving out details for the performance scheduled on 29th to 31st March 2016. No point quoting too much information for Yuuri when Yuuri was only trying to make a point to Christophe Giacometti about the reasons why he actually needed a PA to handle the schedule.

Chris felt his brows twitching when he realized Yuuri was trying to make a point to him, he sighed after a minute of silence from the Japanese duo and said. "Fine, I get it now… I kind of forgot you are not just a professional figure skater before."

"Right, do try not to forget the next time around and please refrain from flirting with my PA in future if possible." Yuuri reminded, before steering the topic of conversation to the sight-seeing trip Viktor was constantly yapping about before the Russian's arrival in Detroit.

Later in the evening, when they ended their sight-seeing trip around downtown Detroit and was back in the hotel. Yuuri sends Kasumi off on the errand of picking up Miyabi at the airport for him while he stayed in Viktor's hotel room for a discussion about the free skate music he had sent to Viktor before on Whatsapp.

"Have you listen to the music I send you the other day yet?" Yuuri asks, as he allows the Russian to cuddle him in bed. Against his better judgement, Yuuri decided to stay the night at Viktor's hotel room this evening.

"Yes, I did listened to it… and I can't help but noticed the slight difference in the music. In hindsight, I suppose it sounds similar enough to the original piece but there are some parts of the music that is obviously different. Is there a reason behind the slight difference?" Viktor questions, he had yet to choreograph the program yet as he was still visualizing the image in mind for the choreography.

"Well… I played the piece by memory for Kanade to help me with the arrangement, seeing as I don't have the original score. I tried to make it as similar as the original version, but that is obviously the best I could do. Since Kanade is the one doing the arrangement, I am not surprised that he added his own style to it and hence the slight difference in the music. I did have Miranda doing another piece at the same time using the main melody but unfortunately, the outcome is completely different from what it was before. I assume that is because of the different experience and events play out for this time-line, anyway – I decided to use the piece Kanade help me arrange for the free skate and not the piece I commissioned Miranda to do for me." Yuuri decided against informing Viktor what has happened to the piece he had commissioned Miranda to compose for him for now, deciding to surprise the Russian later when the début album is unveiled to the public.

"Ah… in that case, maybe it would be better for the choreography to differ slightly as well. Hm.m… let me think on it for a while, either way we wouldn't have time to work on it until the off-seasons comes around. So, there's no rush for it yet…" Viktor commented, filing the information away for later use before he started showing Yuuri the dozen photos he had captured of Yurio and the kitty on his phone.

Yuuri was quite surprised that Viktor spend the night cuddling him in bed and chatting with him instead of ravishing him there and then. Although, he supposed that is a good thing since he wouldn't want to lose his ability to walk properly since 21st of March is the day of the musical performance. While Yuuri wasn't a part of the casts, and his part in the project has been completed – he was helping the crew as an usher for the event attending to the audience crowds.

Yuuri blushed crimson when Viktor upon arrival at the rink with Chris and Josef Karpisek in tow engulf him in a big bear hug and coercing him into a selfie photo session that later ended up plastering on instagram. After the musical show, it doesn't surprised Yuuri that the local media people whom got invited to the show approached Josef Karpisek – the coach of Christophe Giacometti and seeks the man's opinion of the show. After all, the man himself has previous experience at doing ice-show before he completely retires from the ice to take up the mantle of coaching.

"Taking into consideration that this show was performs by total amateurs in ice-show, I would think it good enough. Of course, there are rooms for improvements and I believe if the show was performed by professional group – the outcome could be better. Still on the overall, I would say it's well-executed." Josef Karpisek commented when interviewed by the local media.

Later during the celebration dinner held at the school UNIKII Live House Restaurant for the musical production crew, Viktor had tagged along Yuuri for the gathering like a superglue that cannot be removed.

"Oh Yuuri… is he your secret beau?" Kanade had taken one look in Yuuri's direction before catching on, and asks.

"I shall leave that up for you to decide. Have I mentioned that I would be shifting to Saint Petersburg in June?" Yuuri then asks, not quite certain if he had spoken on this subject with his group-mates before.

"I've heard of it, though you didn't mention it to us directly. We heard it from the company, no need for you to fret – the company are working on it. Either way, do we have to book our rooms at Yu-topia ourselves, or we can just get you to help us with it?" Kanade then asks, members' of the Shinos would be filming the photo-book and MVs for their mini-album in Hasetsu.

Apparently, this is one of Yuuri's condition at joining the group – to save the dwindling tourism industry in the town of Hasetsu. Thus, the Shinos gets their first job before their album official début. Filming of the MVs for their album songs in Hasetsu itself, and releasing a free photo-book that comes with the purchases of the limited edition of their album featuring the Hasetsu beach.

"It would be best to put in an official booking on the website, I had informed my parents about it but just in-case it slips from their mind. Please let your respective PA know to send in the official booking request through the website." Yuuri responded, as he dropped a message of similar content to Hiroaki's PA. The guy is not a part of the musical production crew and hence was nowhere on campus ground now.

"They are coming over to Hasetsu too?" Viktor raised an eyebrow up in question as he whispered to Yuuri after tugging Yuuri's sleeves to gain the Asian's attention.

"Yes, but it's not by my invitation and more for work purposes. Don't worry, I won't be neglecting you while they're in Hasetsu." Yuuri assured the Russian before handing the man the menu to place his orders for him.

"Speaking of the Hasetsu trip, will you be bringing Makkachin over or are you leaving her in Saint Petersburg since it's only for two months this time around." Yuuri asks Viktor softly, keeping the conversation private between the two of them.

"I'll bring her along, I want her to meet Vic-chan first." Viktor responded, his eyes still surveying the menu and because of the crowd surrounding them – he tried to keep his hands to himself for now.

"Do refrain from moving your whole apartment over this time. We had a hard time finding place to store your belongings the last time around. Speaking of, you might as well bring Yurio along for the trip – and Petya as well. I want Vic-chan to get used to sharing living space with Makkachin and Petya before the shift, the two months in Hasetsu is a good opportunity to do so." Yuuri responded to Viktor's words as he decides to help decide on the orders when he thinks Viktor was taking too long with the ordering task.

"You may want to invite Yurio personally, I don't think he will take it too well if I just drag him on a flight to Japan." Viktor told Yuuri as he nodded to one of the dish suggested by Yuuri for him to try.

"Right, I'll text him later to invite him then." Yuuri nodded in response.

"By the way, Yuuri… I'm shipping some things back to Japan this weekend. Is there anything you want me to help ship back to Japan to lighten your own luggage load?" Kanade asks then, drawing Yuuri into a discussion about the trip back to Japan while Viktor tried his best to eavesdrop on the conversation using his limited knowledge of the Japanese language.

"I can't think of any now, I'll update you tonight." Yuuri responded as he shivered slightly from the touch of Viktor's hands roaming under his shirt.

"Viktor! Can you wait until I've finish eating before doing that?" Yuuri hissed flushing crimson while trying to keep anyone from discovering Viktor's molesting acts on him hidden from sight for now.

Thank god for the champagne he had taken a few sip on before, and the not so bright lighting scheme in the live house restaurant. Otherwise, Yuuri don't think anyone would fail to notice the flush on his cheeks is a direct result of what Viktor is doing to him hidden from public view.

"Yuuri… I know you enjoy champagne, but do try to avoid drinking too much. You have a theory paper tomorrow morning, you do not want to enter the exam hall nursing a hangover." Kanade reminded thinking the flush on Yuuri's cheeks is a result from the champagne intake.

Yuuri nearly choked at Kanade's words, before shooting the man beside him a look of annoyance. However, Yuuri hasten his speed of eating and excused both Viktor and himself from the table as soon as he finished the dinner. He didn't bother to wait for his dessert and told Kanade to have it instead.

Yuuri ended up smuggling Viktor into his dorm room which thankfully Phichit was no-where around. He was too far gone to think about what would happen if Phichit were to walk in on them, but thankfully it seems Phichit has his own share of adventure that night and did not return to the dorm until the next morning nursing a terrible hang-over.

"What on earth did you do last night?" Yuuri asks, thankful that Viktor had left before Phichit's return.

"Got drunk with Chris and spend the night at Chris' hotel room…" Phichit responded with lethargy, quite thankful that he had no exams scheduled for the day.

"…You didn't have sex with him, did you?" Yuuri asks, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Huh? What the… No, of course not! We just got drunk that's all…" Phichit responded, looking aghast at Yuuri's suggestion.

"Good, I'm just concern… what's with Chris' tendency with casual flings from time to time." Yuuri heaved a sigh in relief, he didn't wish to see Phichit ending up as one of Chris' casual fling.

"…Do have some faith in me, I only spend the night at his room because I know you would appreciate some privacy last night." Phichit deadpan as he responded, eyeing Yuuri meaningfully.

At that, Yuuri flushed crimson and hurriedly escape the room muttering about having to take some exam or something. Phichit rolls his eyes as he dropped himself on his bed to sleep off his hangover for the day.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 25/4/17


	60. Chapter 60

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters.

Chapter 60

To Viktor: WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?

Viktor Nikiforov sweat-dropped when he received a text message from Yurio in all caps, it seems that he has forgotten to tell Yurio about his being away to Detroit before…and the teen was away in Estonia for the Junior World over the last week. So, essentially he had disappeared without letting the blond in on his travel plans. Then again, this wasn't the first time he vanishes without informing Yurio of his whereabouts and technically he did tell Yakov about his trip so it can't be his absence that upsets Yurio, right?

"…What did you forget this time?" Yuuri took one look at Viktor's expression, flick his gaze down to the text message content and sighed a-loud as he asks.

"I may have forgotten to tell Yurio about my leaving Saint Petersburg a few days before Yakov?" Viktor responded somewhat hesitantly.

"I'm sure that's not all, did Yurio had the key to your apartment yet?" Yuuri raised an eyebrow in question as he asks.

"…" Viktor froze then, and despite the lack of verbal response his expression is enough to tell Yuuri what he had forgotten this time.

"…" Yuuri pressed his hand to the side of his head, before he took over the task of responding to Yurio.

To Yurio: This is Yuuri…I apologize on behalf for Viktor's lapse of memory. He seems to have forgotten that you do not have a key to the apartment yet. He left Petya and Makkachin with Georgi for the week, I will make sure Viktor has the spare key to the apartment ready for you as soon as possible. For the time-being, you can spend the night at Georgi.

After dropping the message to Yurio, Yuuri scanned through Viktor's contact list until he came across Georgi's name and drop a text towards the pet-sitter for the week informing the man to expect a newly returned Yurio from Estonia.

To Viktor: Why should I be expecting Yuri? Speaking of, any particular reason you are messaging me in English?

To Georgi: To put it simply, Viktor forgot to have a spare key of his apartment made for Yurio so now with Viktor away, Yurio had no way of gaining entrance to Viktor's apartment. Hence, Yurio have to bunk in with you for the time-being. Oh, and I'm Yuuri Katsuki by the way hence the message being in English.

To Viktor: O_O Why are you the one messaging me about this? Where's Viktor?

To Georgi: He's too busy panicking over the idea of leaving Yurio homeless now, and so I decided to take charge of the situation for now. *insert face-palm look*

To Viktor: Right, I'll speak with Yakov on my side to see what we can do about Yuri's accommodation during the week where the World Championship for Senior is going on. *insert sweat-drop expression*

To Georgi: I'll snap Viktor out from his panicking mood and discuss the issue with him on my side as well.

With that, Yuuri set the phone aside and return his attention back to the panicking Russian. With a sigh, Yuuri reached out with both his hands and cupped Viktor's cheeks using his palms forcing the man to look into his eyes.

"Viktor, take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Now, listen to me very clearly – I had message Yurio on your behalf and send him over to Georgi for the week. However, we are going to discuss what to do with Yurio for the following week. You are heading straight down to Boston for the World Championship, and Georgi is involve in the Worlds as well so Yurio cannot continue to bunk in at Georgi's place. Makkachin and Petya together with Yurio has to go somewhere else during the week where the World Championship is going on. We are now going to discuss the options available, do you hear me?" Yuuri asks, his expression one of solemnity and seriousness.

Viktor nodded, as he started to calm down and think of a possible solution to the problem at hand. No doubt, Yurio would be very pissed at him after his return to Saint Petersburg… to think he had actually forgotten to give Yurio a spare key after getting the teen to move in. Oh well, what has already happen cannot be undone so they can only try to salvage the situation before it escalates further.

"Okay, Yakov is out for obvious reasons… he would be in Boston as well. Lilia is out as well, she is in the middle of a divorce negotiation with Yakov so she probably won't want to deal with any requests from Yakov for the time-being and might even choose to go overseas for some quiet should the divorce proceedings went through. Yurio's grandfather is in Moscow, even if Yakov allows Yurio to take a break and head back to Moscow during the week we are away for World Championship in Boston – we cannot expect the old man to keep up with two pets at the same time." Viktor frowned when he said the last bit, as he mulled over the probable chance of him shipping Makkachin over to Hasetsu first while letting Yurio take Petya back to Moscow for the period nobody is available to take in Yurio.

"Alright, I have a suggestion… Fly Yurio and the pets down to Tokyo when the rest of you fly over to Boston for the World Championship. I'll get Kasumi to fly back to Japan earlier to meet up with Yurio and arrange accommodation for Yurio and the pets. I'll meet up with them when I reached Japan, the rest…we will decide and go from there later." Yuuri mulled over the situation as he stared at the calendar on his phone silently for a few minutes before speaking up and bringing forth his idea.

"Oh… but wouldn't it be an inconvenience for Kasumi?" Viktor asks then, sounding somewhat hesitant and uneasy about the idea.

"Nah… Kasumi is my PA not my coach, depending on the situation I may send her several days ahead of me to a place just to get things ready. Although this means I need to change my accommodation plans, since I need to take both Makkachin and Petya presences into consideration…" Yuuri waved off Viktor's concern, before he reached for his mobile to call Kasumi in for further discussion.

"Alright, so we need an accommodation that is okay with pets' during the stay in Tokyo but still keeping it within your stipulated budget?" Kasumi double clarify the conditions with Yuuri as she contact the hotel to cancel the original reservation made. Luckily, the hotel has a clause for free cancellation so there wasn't any trouble in canceling the reservation made less than 48 hours before.

"Try to fit it in the stipulated budget, otherwise let me know the extra costs incurred. I will get this idiot here to reimburse the amount afterwards." Yuuri said throwing a look towards the sheepish looking Viktor Nikiforov.

"…I see, okay… should I book the ticket to Japan for Yuri Plisetsky as well?" Kasumi asks then, and Yuuri shift his eyes towards Viktor and upon noticing the look of surprise on the man's face – Yuuri knew the man had yet to contact Yurio about the plan.

"Never mind, I'll let you know if I need you to book the ticket for Yurio later. For now, all you need to do is to search for accommodation that is okay with housing pets." Yuuri responded, before he took out his phone and message Yurio himself with the invitation for the teen to visit Hasetsu.

To Yurio: This is Yuuri Katsuki, in-case you're wondering – I got your contact number from Viktor. I understand that you're left stranded outside the apartment due to a stupid oversight of Viktor's mistake, and would like to invite you to visit Japan while Viktor and the rest of the team Russia members are away in Boston competing in the World Championship. Personally, I'm due to return to Japan on the 27th of March but I can arrange for someone to pick you up a few days earlier if you decide to take up my invitation offer. Makkachin and Petya would be joining you for the trip to Japan as well. Do let me know of your inclinations so I could make relevant arrangements in time. Do not worry about the cost of travel, Viktor will be sponsoring it as a form of compensation due to his stupid mistake that results in this predicament.

Once Yuuri send the message off to Yurio, he sat back and wait for the teen to respond. He didn't have to wait long though, because Yurio's response came in within a ten minute time frame.

To Katsudon: Fine.

Yurio's response to Yuuri was a short and sweet single word of agreement, while Viktor received a strings of curse words response on Whatsapp from the teen in voice recording clip. In the background, Viktor could hear his beloved poodle Makkachin barking before the recorded voice clip ended abruptly.

"Well… it looks like Yurio has arrived at Georgi's…" Viktor commented before checking with Yuuri what kind of response did the Asian received from the teen.

"I didn't get cursed if that is what you mean. He agreed easily enough, probably because he can't think of any alternatives. Either way, I'll inform Kasumi to place the booking now that Yurio has agree to the suggestion." Yuuri said before reaching for his phone to call up Kasumi, again.

"Do you need my card number?" Viktor asks then, seeing as he is going to pay for Yurio's trip to Japan as a form of compensation. Although, this time around Yurio would not insists on paying him back since it is his compensation to the inconvenience caused to the teen.

"Not for the moment, I'll pay using my card first. I'll get you to pay me the amount via bank transfer later after we confirmed the amount for Yurio's share on this trip." Yuuri responded, while he waited for his PA – Kasumi to answer the call.

After finalizing the arrangements plan with Kasumi, Yuuri took Viktor out for a late dinner. Yuuri is over at downtown Detroit for the day, he left the campus as soon as he was finish with his exam in the morning. Not wanting to disturb Phichit's rest, Yuuri had taken a Uber down to the downtown part of the city. He had first visited Miyabi whom then managed to talk him into trying out another round of new design attires for Spring 2016 collection under the branding of K.M – Miyabi's personal designer brand series that would be unveiled in Quarter 2 of 2016 in Tokyo, Japan and Paris, France at the same time.

After the private modeling for Miyabi's eyes, the duo went for a quick-lunch before Yuuri brought up the subject of having Miyabi designed his new costumes for Free Skate program in the new seasons. When questioned on the SP and Exhibition costumes, Yuuri simply said he had yet to decide the music for SP and Exhibition and so until he had made up his mind on the music used for those programs – he cannot be certain of the costume designs he is looking at. Miyabi then shrugged and let the issue go but she did remind Yuuri to let her know before she got swamp with her other work commitments such as the launch of the new clothes branding series.

As Kasumi is a good friend of Miyabi before the latter left for America to study fashion design, Yuuri had Kasumi joining him on the trip to downtown Detroit. In order to give the two girls ample time to reestablish their friendship bond with one another, Yuuri left for the hotel where Viktor is staying. They were in the middle of discussing what to do for the afternoon, when Yurio's message first came in. Consequently, they ended up spending the afternoon working on contingency arrangement for Yurio's whom got stranded outside of the apartment unit due to an oversight on Viktor's part. Now that the issue had finally been settled, the duo finally had time to relax.

"I'm surprise…" Yuuri commented when Viktor is changing and getting ready for the dinner trip to come.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Viktor blinked, glancing over at Yuuri with a questioning look in his eyes.

"I'm surprise that Chris didn't bother to drop by throughout the afternoon." Yuuri commented, he knew Chris hasn't left Detroit for Boston yet.

"Ah… he had a little too much to drink last night, so he's busy sleeping his hang-over away. Josef refuses to give him aspirin for his headache." Viktor responded easily enough, sounding quite amused by Chris plight if nothing else.

"I see..." Yuuri murmurs as he inwardly wonder just what exactly Chris and Phichit had done while busy getting drunk off their ass the night before. Well, he supposed he could try getting his hands on Phichit's phone later if he really wanted to know…

Half-way through the dinner with Viktor, Kasumi send Yuuri the email of Yurio's flight details and the new booking details for the accommodation. Yuuri then forwarded the flight details and e-ticket to Yurio after getting the teen to give him an email address so he could send the flight details over.

Yurio's flight to Japan is schedule to take off on the afternoon of 25th of March 2016, the same day where Georgi and the rest of Team Russia is schedule to fly over to Boston in preparation for the World Championship. As Yuuri can only fly to Japan after his graduation concert on 26th March 2016, Kasumi will be flying back on 24th March late night flight so that she could get everything ready by the time Yurio and the two pets flew in from Saint Petersburg. Viktor then proceeds on to brief Yurio on the rules of flying Makkachin and Petya over to Japan, seeing as the teen probably had no idea what are the rules for flying with pets.

Of course, when Viktor calls Yurio up he was subject to another round of screaming fit from the teen before Yurio finally calm down enough to listen to what Viktor has to say. While Yuuri had pitied Viktor for having to endure Yurio's screaming fits, he didn't do anything to help either because it is Viktor's fault for leaving the teen stranded in the first place.

"Yuuri, please stay the night?" Viktor stared at Yuuri with his best puppy eyes look when they arrived back at the hotel. The twenty-eight Russian needs some comforting from Yuuri tonight, after being subjected to several rounds of berating and yelling. The yelling he got from an irate Yakov and pissed off Yurio for his oversight, while the lecture he had to endure from Georgi when he calls the other man to help Yurio in arranging for the pets to fly over to Japan when it become clear that Yurio was at a complete loss of what kind of paperwork to submits to the airline company for pets boarding.

"…Oh fine, I'll stay. However, I must insist on only cuddling treatment. I may not seems as pissed off at you like Yurio was, but I'm not happy with your oversight either. In fact, I'm quite thankful that we did not went through with the idea of adopting a kid back in the earlier time-line. With the way you acted, I don't think you're ready for that responsibility yet. At least, Yurio is already earning an income of his own – worst case scenario, he could stay in a hotel or motel while waiting for your return. A real kid or toddler would have freaked out over what you did today." Yuuri plastered on his most stern expression as he lectured Viktor one last time, before putting today's incident behind him.

Viktor pouted but did not object to Yuuri's words, because he knows them as the undeniable truth. He allows Yuuri to lecture him on his oversight mistake, all the while staring at Yuuri with his most pitiful look until the Asian drop the issue and cuddled him as they ready themselves for bed.

~ to be continued~

Date Completed: 26/4/17.


	61. Chapter 61

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Characters.

Chapter 61

Standing in the arrival hall at Narita International Airport, Yuri Plisetsky had to admit he felt a little lost since he had no idea whom and what to expect for this trip. However, it seems he doesn't have to worry too much about it because the person in charge of fetching him at least had a very clear idea of his looks.

"Ah… right on time, I'm Kasumi – your temporary chaperon until Yuuri get here at least. Now, do you have the paperwork on-hand for the retrieval of Makkachin and … Petya?" Kasumi did a self-introduction to the Russian teen before consulting the notepad on the tablet device for the pets' names.

Yuri Plisetsky handed over the documents numbly, his mind is obviously still reeling from the surrealism of the entire situation. How did the person send by Katsudon to fetch him knows how to speak Russian? English, he was expecting but a Japanese who know show to speak Russian – he was most definitely not expecting.

"Mr. Plisetsky?" Kasumi turn back towards the Russian teen when she realized the boy was still rooted to the same spot.

"Right, I'm coming… so, you are the person sent over by Katsudon to pick me up? Did he send you because you knows my native tongue?" Yuri Plisetsky asks as he caught up with the young woman several steps ahead of him.

"Yes and No. Yes – I'm sent to pick you up by Yuuri, but he didn't send me because of my ability to speak and understand Russian tongue. He sends me because I am his PA, and technically I'm suppose to come back earlier to get things ready for his arrival. Picking you up is just an extra job that is well within my job scope. I'm using this chance to put my limited knowledge of Russian to practice, I am quite certain one of the reason Yuuri contracted me as his PA was because of my knowledge of Russian. I took the language as a foreign language back in my high school as a third language, but I haven't had any chance of practicing the usage of it so I am depending on you to correct me if I said anything wrongly." Kasumi explains, adding the second half of her statement without the need for the teen to prompt her into elaborating her response.

"I see… so what are we going to do next?" Yuri Plisetsky ask then, sounding quite docile as compared to his usual temperament.

"We are going to collect Makkachin and your kitten first, and then we will move on to get you and the pets settled in the hotel. After that, if we have the time – I supposed I could show you where are the local rinks in the area so you could continue your training while away from Saint Petersburg. Speaking of, do you have any Japanese currency on hand? If not, and you would like to have some cash on hand – I could show you where the currency exchange with the best exchange rates are. Otherwise, I could pay for your expenses first and later get reimbursement from Yuuri." Kasumi told Yuri patiently.

"I thought Viktor is the one sponsoring this trip of mine?" Yuri Plisetsky asks again, a look of confusion on his face as he voice his doubt a-loud for Kasumi.

"Yes, well… but the flight and hotel accommodation is book under the name of Yuuri so I assume Yuuri would get Viktor to pay him back later through bank transfer or something." Kasumi explains, matter-of-factly.

"I think I would like to have some Japanese currency on hand." Yuri said after taking a minute to consider the situation. While he didn't bring a lot of cash on his person, he does have a few thousand of Rubles on him which he supposed could be converted to Japanese Yen for the time-being. It isn't a lot but if he's just looking to sustain until Katsudon got back, then it probably could last. The downside of being fifteen year old, he wasn't old enough to own a personal debit card let alone a credit card. He does have the regular cash withdrawal card though, but he highly doubt the cash withdrawal machine in Japan would take his card so he guess he have to rely purely on cash.

"I'll show you the currency exchange booth later. In the meantime, let's go and collect the pets from their holding area." Kasumi responded, leading her way to where the pets' companions of travelers aboard a flight are usually held until the owner came over to collect them.

Two hours later, Kasumi had Yuri Plisetsky as well as the pets settled at a newly established hotel that is open to the idea of guests bringing in pets for their stay. The pets are welcome to roam the ground floor, but is not allow entry to the guest rooms upstairs. The hotel have a designated area for the pets' stay during the night. In the daytime, however – the guests are welcome to take the pets out for a walk or to play around with the pets using the ground floor common areas.

"I apologize that I couldn't find a better lodging that allows the pets to stay with their owners throughout the day, but considering that there isn't enough time to source for the accommodation place… this is the best that I could find." Kasumi said to Yuri Plisetsky after she explained the rules for the pets' stay in the hotel.

"It's alright, I am aware that not a lot of hotels allow pets to stay and roams their areas. At least, with this hotel they won't be stuck in their cages 24 hours." Yuri Plisetsky responded as polite as he could.

Kasumi later handed Yuri a local map of the area which they are staying and some brochures for nearby sight-seeing sites, taken from the check-in counter. Seeing as Kasumi do have things to do in Tokyo aside from chaperoning Yuri Plisetsky, she informs the teen that if he finds it too boring to stay indoor during day time – he is very welcome to take the pets out for a walk nearby and visit any of the sight-seeing place around the vicinity.

"Where is the nearest ice rink around this area?" Yuri then asks, this entire situation is making him slightly uncomfortable. Usually, he avoid speaking to people he doesn't know and prefers to leave it up to Yakov or his other rink-mates to deal with. Now though, he has to handle it himself and thus he is making an extra effort of trying to refrain from being rude to another.

"That would be two streets away, I can walk you over later to show you the way. Why don't you get yourself settled down first? In the meantime, I will go and get some things ready." With that Kasumi left the Russian teen alone to familiarize himself with the hotel room he is staying in and headed back downstairs to do her own things.

Yuri Plisetsky did not see Kasumi again for the next hour, and when the young woman appears in front of him an hour later – the latter handed him a card with a penguin imprinted by the lower right corner.

"What is this?" Yuri frowned as he took the card from Kasumi.

"That is a Suica, it is a smart-card issued by the JR East Railway Company. It is for transport use, and amount are pre-paid and stored in the card itself. It can also be used for purchases of items on vending machines and convenience stores. You just need to tap the card to the sensor at the cashier and designated area on vending machines to pay for the items selected or purchased. If the amount runs low, you can top it up at either of the train station top up machine using cash. Minimum amount for top up is 500 Yen. I had charged a 1000 Yen in the card for your usage, no need to pay me yet. I know you don't have a lot of cash on hand, you can pay Yuuri back later or get Viktor to reimburse Yuuri for the amount. I would be claiming the amount from Yuuri later in time. Now, are you ready for the trip to the ice rink?" Kasumi asks and Yuri leap to his feet, obviously eager to head over to the ice-rink.

On the way over to the ice-rink, Kasumi also point out the parks nearby that Yuri could bring Makkachin out for the daily walk. The hotel had staffs feeding the pets during the period of their stay in the hotel, so there is no need for Yuri to fret about meals for both Makkachin and Petya. Two streets away from the hotel they were staying stood the building where the ice-rink is – Moon Palace Ice Rink.

Moon Palace, like the Ice Castle is managed by the Tsukishiro Group – but unlike the Ice Castle that is open to public, Moon Palace operates on a membership usage basis. It is usually where the JSF hosts their annual training camps for novice skaters, and where school competitions are usually held. It is also the training rink for local schools with Ice-skating clubs, the clients and customers of Moon Palace are usually schools and professional organization groups.

"Isn't there a need to pay the entrant fee or something?" Yuri asks after Kasumi flashes something at the entry gate, before the gate opens automatically to allow them entry to the rink.

"Usually yes for public rinks, but Moon Palace is slightly different. They operates on membership usage basis, so the fees are usually collected in the beginning of the year in lump sum with stipulated hours specified. For Yuuri case, the Tsukishiro Group is his main sponsor and he gets free use of any rinks operated under the group. Moon Palace and Ice Castle both falls under the managements of Tsukishiro Group, hence the free entry. For your case, they would just deduct the usage hours from Yuuri's left-over hours before he sign the sponsorship contract with Tsukishiro Group." Kasumi explains before leaving the teen in the lockers room to change into his training gears.

To Yuuri: Just thought to update you, I'd brought Plisetsky to Moon Palace for his skating training so Moon Palace would likely deduct the hours he used from your remaining hours before the sponsorship went through. You would probably received a statement from Moon Palace about your membership status in a few days' time.

To Kasumi: Noted, thank you. Personally, I seldom use Moon Palace – preferring Ice Castle over it. Anyway, no need to restrict his hours in there… I probably didn't use much of my purchased hours in the first place, the only time I uses it was during preparation for my novice competitions and that was like a decade ago. Speaking of, has there been any leak in my traveling arrangements? Do I need to camouflage myself before making my presence known in the arrival hall tomorrow afternoon?

To Yuuri: Nope, not to my knowledge. All they knows is that you would be performing in Suntory Hall on 29th of March to 31st of March, 2016. So, I think you are still quite safe from the mobbing crowd.

To Kasumi: Good. I'll see you in the airport tomorrow afternoon then.

Over in Detroit, Yuuri is actually on his way to the airport after his graduation concert comes to a close. He was rope in for some photo taking session after the concert for a while, but eventually his claims of needing to catch a flight back to Japan had allows him to escape smoothly from his fellow classmates. He had sent the bulk of his music scores collected during the five years spend in Detroit back with Kanade's bulk luggage a few days ago. So, he doesn't have to worry about paying for extra luggage space for his trip back to Japan today.

Yuuri is thankful that all the modeling he did for Miyabi before is mainly used for her portfolio and not for magazines publication. Otherwise, he is quite certain he would get mob by public like the Shinomiya Siblings wherever they goes. No wonder those two never appears anywhere without sunglasses and face mask. At times, they might even uses wigs to get past the crowd waiting to ambush them in the airport.

"I should applaud you for your insight to separate your private persona from your celebrity persona with the two different style of dressing." Kanade murmurs as he dropped himself next to Yuuri on the bench waiting for the boarding announcement in the departure hall of the airport.

"…I can assured you I didn't plan it. I didn't wear glasses on the ice because it is an inconvenience, and while I could choose to use contacts – I didn't because it would only enhanced my anxiety while waiting for my turn. Besides, it wasn't like I couldn't see totally without my glasses or contacts… I slick my hair back only because I didn't want my fringe obstructing my already terrible sight while skating. The same to go for my stage performance, using gel on my hair prevents my fringe from blocking my view of the scores. I wore contacts because I need to read the scores, although I may have subconsciously wanted to keep my personal life private and hence not choosing to appear on stage in my usual dress style." Yuuri explains, and now he's thinking to leave the idol image up to the company's stylist when the début comes along.

Contrary to what people believe, Yuuri's eyesight isn't that bad. Sure, things are a little blurry around the edge without his glasses but it wasn't so terrible that he would risk walking into a wall without glasses on. In fact, his eyesight could be fixed using the latest technology treatment but he chooses not to. He wore glasses daily outside of his performances because it helps to cope with his nervousness around people, and it prevents people from looking into his eyes without any barrier between. Of course, his daily lack of dress sense helps somewhat – it gives off the image of a nerd or a geek to most people hindering their approaches.

Yuuri owns two pairs of glasses, the usually seen blue rectangle frame glasses that he prefers and the sleek design slim gold-plated frame glasses. The first he uses daily, and the second he uses it only on stage for music performances if his eyes are too sensitive for contacts.

"Where's Haruka?" Yuuri asks when he didn't see the elder Shinomiya sibling anywhere near Kanade.

"Stuck in photographing session with his fans whom are traveling on the same flight." Kanade responded, sounding gleeful about his elder brother's plight.

"Ah… well, his popularity overlap yours most of the time." Yuuri commented, seeing as Haruka is the more active sibling in showbiz thus far. The guy was star in various movies as minor characters during the five years in Detroit, and Haruka modeled for Adidas sports gear as well as Timberland. The guy was practically featured in fashion magazine nearly every seasons, Kanade, however is only modeling for Levi's Jeans and Wilson series of racquets and shoes. The rest of the time Kanade is mostly busy with school related performances, and the weekly tennis club training. No wonder Haruka has the strongest fan bases among them… that guy was already well-establish in the showbiz industry.

"So, what are you going to do in Tokyo upon arrival?" Kanade asks Yuuri then.

"Sleep off the jet-lag, the rest can wait." Yuuri deadpan as he responded.

"I see… I guess I'll find something to entertain myself then." Kanade laugh at Yuuri's response, but it wasn't totally unexpected since he knew by now that Yuuri don't relates well to long distance travel.

"You do that, and if there is anything that you need to tell me – let Kasumi know, she can fill me in after I slept off the jet-lag." Yuuri told Kanade as he nodded a greeting to the newly arrived Hiroaki.

"You are flying on the same flight too?" Yuuri raised an eyebrow in question at Hiroaki as he asks.

"Yes well… we do have photo-shooting session in Tokyo and the meeting with the company stylist before, isn't it? So, to make things easy I think the company have us all arranged on the same flight back so they can fend off the press attention easier." Hiroaki commented, before he too question Haruka's lack of presence.

"He's stuck socializing over there at the back with his fans." Kanade said as he inclined his head towards the corner where the elder Shinomiya were seen posing for pictures with some fan-girls of his.

"Oh… and no fan-girls mobbing you?" Hiroaki teased as he turn his eyes on Kanade.

"Haha, very funny… I'm not the one with movie screening on cinema at this point of time, so of course I'm not getting mobbed." Kanade roll his eyes at Hiroaki's words.

"Well… look at it this way, with Haruka catching everyone's attention – doesn't it makes it easier for us to slip by undetected?" Yuuri commented, causing both Hiroaki and Kanade to smirk in response.

"You're right, he could help to distract the press and keep them off our backs… Come on, let's go – they're calling for the boarding of business class passengers." Hiroaki said, as he made a move towards the queue for boarding.

Kanade and Yuuri shared a look before they made a move forward to join the queue as well. Behind them, they could hear Haruka apologizing to his fans before hurrying after them. Their flight back to Japan falls under the business class, while it is rare for Yuuri to travel under something aside from Economy class – their tickets is book by the artist management company this time, and judging from how Haruka was mob by his fans earlier. Yuuri had to admit business class seems better as compared to Economy class this time around, at least.

While members' of the Shinos is flying to Japan on business class tickets, their PA and Hiroaki's team of coaches however is flying on Economy class. Then again, it is kind of expected since nobody would mobbed them seeing as they weren't celebrities in the first place.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 27/4/17.


	62. Chapter 62

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Character

Chapter 62

When Yuuri arrived at the hotel to check himself in, Yurio was nowhere around. A quick check with Kasumi confirms that Yurio is most likely out on his evening run in the park with Makkachin, and would be back later for dinner. Yuuri nodded and headed to his assigned room for a nap, requesting for Kasumi to call him when Yurio returns. He wants a chance to speak with the teen before he got caught up with his rehearsals for the impending performances again.

"How are you doing? Sorry for moving you half-way across the globe together with Makkachin and Petya, but this is the only possible solution we could think of seeing as Viktor would not be returning to Saint Petersburg after World but to head straight down to Hasetsu, my home-town for holiday." Yuuri said as soon as his eyes landed on the newly return Yuri Plisetsky from his evening jog.

"I know. You didn't have to apologize on that idiot's behalf." Yurio muttered in response before he drop himself into the empty seat opposite of Yuuri Katsuki of the hotel's restaurant.

"Still, I should have reminded him to give you a spare key to the apartment before. However, it slips my mind so for that, I have to apologize. If I remembered to remind him, he would not have forgotten about giving you set of keys to his apartment." Yuuri responded apologetically to the Russian teen.

"Enough of this apology thing from you. Seriously, you are not to blame for this situation. In the first place, Viktor shouldn't rely on you to remember little things for him even if the two of you are together." Yurio throws back a sharp retort, sounding quite annoyed at the entire situation in general.

"I know, but it wouldn't sit well on me without apologizing to you for the inconvenience caused by Viktor's lapse of memory." Yuuri answered back in return.

"Really, enough is enough. I don't want to hear another word of apology from you, let the idiot apologized to me himself. Speaking of, would you mind enlightening to me the reason we are in Tokyo and not in Hasetsu now? I thought, Hasetsu is your home-town?" Yurio, eager to distract Yuuri from the endless apologies acts hurried to change the subject.

"Yes, well… Hasetsu is my home-town. The reason I asks for you to meet me in Tokyo is because I have to do a few things here in Tokyo before heading back home to Hasetsu. I can't send you and the pets ahead to Hasetsu without a guide, and I need Kasumi here in Tokyo for the various meetings I'm suppose to attend over the next few days. So, I thought to meet you in Tokyo instead. After I finished my work here in Tokyo, we will travel to Hasetsu together. Viktor will meet us there on his own time after he finished competing for the World." Yuuri explained, picking up his chopsticks as his freshly prepared meal was place in front of him.

"How do we get to Hasetsu from Tokyo then?" Yurio then asks, having no idea just how far Hasetsu is from Tokyo seeing as he hadn't been there before.

"Most likely we are flying over to Saga Airport from Tokyo Haneda via the daily flights from All Nippon Airways (ANA). The flight will take 3 hours, and then we can get a cab to the hot spring inn which my family operates. I would suggest taking the bullet train if I could, but seeing as you do not have a JR Pass and the Shinkansen ticket isn't cheap. Moreover, I wasn't sure if pets were allow on the trains or not… I think sticking to air travel is a safer bet." Yuuri responded, patiently answering any questions which Yurio had brought forth to his attention.

If there is anything which Yuuri had gathered from his years of knowing and dealing with the Russian teen, it was to avoid treating the teen like a kid. By treating Yurio with respect and speaking with the teen as though one would speak to another adult is the best way to gain the teen's cooperation. Yurio doesn't deals well with people ordering him around, and the way Viktor likes to fuss over Yurio certainly doesn't help – hence all the snarling, hissing and cursing from the teen.

"I see, and how long would you be staying in Tokyo then?" Yurio asks next, as he considerate the need to buy new clothes for his stay in Japan. As he was lock out from Viktor's apartment, he didn't have a lot of clothes on hand – what he brought to Japan are the same attire he had brought to Estonia for his Junior World Championship Tournament.

"I'll be staying until 2nd April, I had some meetings for tomorrow morning but I'll be free in the afternoon and then I'm due for a recording in the evening. The next three days after tomorrow I'm performing at Suntory Hall, so I probably won't be around much… and on 1st and 2nd April – I'm scheduled for recording work as well. We can start working on your SP for senior début when we arrived in Hasetsu, from what I know – Viktor already had the choreography figured out. All he needs to do now is to teach you… I will make sure he remembers before the vacation period ends." Yuuri told Yurio firmly towards the end when he brought up the SP program which Viktor had promised to choreograph for the teen.

Yurio nodded but said nothing in response to Yuuri's words, the mentioning of Viktor's name still ticks him off but at least his temper has cool off somewhat for now. Although, Yurio made no guarantee that he wouldn't snap upon the sight of the twenty-eight year old Russian skater when they meet again in another few days time.

After dinner, Yuuri headed back to his hotel room to rest again. Kasumi, however, was conversing on the phone most of the evening clarifying the timing and venues of the meeting for the following day. Yurio then headed to where the pets are kept, and played with his kitten – Petya for a while, ignoring Makkachin's bark for attention. He had already walked that dog of Viktor earlier, and only want to spend time with his little kitten for now.

The next few days Yurio's schedule were about the same, he woke up and took breakfast at the hotel either by heading down to the restaurant or ordering room service. After breakfast, he would go for a morning jog around the nearest park before heading for the rink to fit in some training. Since, he has no coach available during his time in Tokyo – he can't do anything new so he just practice the quad jumps that he knew he could land already. The only quad he had not mastered is the quad flip which is Viktor's signature move… he wonder if he should get the man to teach it to him as compensation for the inconvenience caused by the man's forgetfulness this time around.

The evening hours, Yurio spend the time taking Makkachin out for a walk before heading back to the hotel for the dinner meal. After dinner, he tends to spend an hour playing with his kitten watching how his kitten and Viktor's puppy vying for his attention. It never fails to amuse him when the two animals engaged in a stare-down competition. Occasionally, the Katsudon would join him and then he would amuse himself with the way Viktor's puppy pounced on the Katsudon with excitement that rivals Viktor.

"Stupid dog, are you trying to imitate your master in molesting the Katsudon?" Yurio stared at Makkachin as it attacks by pouncing on the Asian barking and wagging its' tail excitedly.

Yuuri flushes crimson when he heard Yurio's comments, but did not say anything in response and merely welcome the tackling hug from the over-size puppy. Eventually, Yuuri managed to get the excited puppy to settle down and stop the licking acts on him. Inwardly, Yuuri was thankful that he had yet to shower otherwise he might need a second round of the showers to rid himself of Makkachin's saliva.

"So, what brought you over this evening? I thought you were busy?" Yurio questions as the Katsudon plop down next to him on the bench in the animal accommodation of the hotel they are residing while in Tokyo.

"Yesterday's the last of my concert performance, so my evening hours are free now. Speaking of, I heard from Kasumi that you were in the audience yesterday?" Yuuri asks as he allows Makkachin to cozy up with him by laying over his lap.

"You did invited me, didn't you?" There was a second of silence, before Yurio responded flatly.

"That I did, but I wasn't sure if you would turn up. So, any verdict on the performances?" Yuuri asks, still keeping his attention on Makkachin but occasionally glancing out at the teen from the corner of his eyes.

"I wouldn't know since I'm not an expert in gauging music performances but I think it's good? I mean, judging from the full house capacity of the audience response… and the presences of local media coverage, it is a good and successful performance – right?" Yurio started, sounding unsure.

"Maybe… I wouldn't know for sure either. I think half the crowd is there because it isn't everyday you get to see theme songs for an anime being played using an orchestra arrangement. So, I don't know maybe they are just there to get a different feel of it?" Yuuri shrugged, but he was glad that the performance is over for now. He knew the sales of the CD for the animation theme songs cover are good but thankfully there are no further promotional campaign going on for the CD itself.

His recording session with Tokyo Recording Studio are for the piano composition work by the late Toru Takemitsu, as the CD is a compilation work consisting of pianist performance across Japan. His part which consists of 2 tracks are recorded on 28th March 2016 evening itself, and the recording work over the first two days of April are for the mini-album of Shinos. The Record company is going to release two versions of the mini-album, the local and international version. Local version of the album would consists of 4 vocal tracks, and three instrumental tracks – of which, aside from the track title 'Shinos' is performed as a group.

The other three tracks consists of a solo by Haruka Shinomiya (あなたの心にゴール), Rising Shot (Duet from Kanade Shinomiya and Hasegawa Hiroaki) and lastly a solo track from Yuuri (初め). Among the three instrumental tracks, one of which is 'Yuri on Ice' – of course, it's the version re-created by Yuuri with help from Kanade on the arrangement.

As for the solo track – Hajime sang by Yuuri, it is actually the original piece of music Yuuri had requests for Miranda Cornwell to help compose the first time around but ended up not using it as Celestino found it lacking in some components. The song was buy over by Queen Records some-time ago, and after revamping it and adding in the lyrics – it ended up being a song that suits Yuuri's background and thus Yuuri was ask to record it as a solo piece. Embarrassing as it was, Yuuri decided to give it a try since he found the lyrics to his liking.

Thankfully, the solo is only for the Japan released edition of the album, for the international edition – all the songs were repackage into English lyrics. While the music is the same, the lyrics and meaning is entirely different. Therefore, for the tracks involved in the international edition – they were all recorded as a group vocals. The titles of the tracks also differs somewhat except for the first track 'Shinos', Haruka's solo track was revamp into a group vocal track by the name of 'Road to your Heart', Rising Shot is still Rising Shot but the lyrics were change to English and it now becomes a group performance track and not the duet arrangement. Hajime was rename Dreams and the lyrics was completely different from the Japanese version of it, if the Japanese version centers on Yuuri's past from his childhood days – the English version becomes a song of realizing dreams and passion while still young.

Due to the two versions of album planning to release, the recording will take a few days time to complete as not every songs could be recorded in one go. Some songs requires overlapping vocals arrangement so probably need a few times before it finished recording, and then there are music videos filming to consider as well as the photography for the album covers. Two versions of the album also meant two different styles of covers for album required, and the photo-book for the limited version of the album which consists of 2 CDs both the local and international edition into 1 copy of album.

Next would be a series of promotion campaign for the album, which includes live TV shows appearance, interviews with magazines and newspaper, autograph session after the album was release, mini-fan meetings etc. There has been no live performance scheduled yet at this stage, but it is hard to say since the company and management would probably decide after measuring the response from the public. Well, at least Yuuri knows the management would avoid arranging the live performance dates during his busiest month whereby he has major competitions coming up. Although, that also meant that he might be traveling often during the off-seasons depending on where the promotion campaign and events took place.

The more Yuuri dwell on the subject, the more thankful he was at his decision of contracting Kasumi as his PA. At least, now he need not plan his schedule himself – the work load is getting a little too mind-boggling for him to sort through, at least with Kasumi's help all he need to do is to go according to the time-schedule organized by Kasumi and the relevant organizations.

While Yuuri and Yurio were enjoying their time in Tokyo, or rather they were not busy competing in skating competitions. Viktor Nikiforov is not so fortunate, being in the midst of the World tournament – the twenty-eight year old had his phone confiscated by Yakov so there would be no distraction for Viktor while preparing for the competition. Viktor had tried pouting and pleading with the old coach, but the coach refused to budge and returned the confiscated phone to the twenty-eight year old. Instead all Viktor got was another lecture on his short-term memory of what had resulted in the near crisis of leaving Yurio stranded with no place to go.

If Yuuri thought it strange to not having heard anything from Viktor during the week, he didn't had it in him to take the initiative in contacting the Russian. He figured Viktor must have not had access to the phone, so most likely Yakov had taken the liberty to confiscate Viktor's phone so the man could concentrate and focus on the competition at hand.

On the first day of April, Yuuri decided to arrange for Yurio to meet Minako who is in Tokyo and make arrangement for the teen to work on the ballet training that the teen has neglected over the past few days due to the lack of resources.

"Yurio, meet Minako. She is my ballet instructor, and a former ballerina. She owns a ballet studio in Hasetsu but due to the lack of students, she now occasionally helps her friend out in Tokyo Ballet School. Yakov drop me a message earlier for me to help you on your footwork which I will make time for it once we head over to Hasetsu. For now, Minako will oversee your practice in the ballet studio as I don't have the time to work on your foot-work yet." Yuuri said as he introduced Yurio to Minako Okukawa in a café near the hotel they were staying for the time-being.

"Honestly, Yuuri… here I thought why you suddenly had the wish to contact me. So, it end up with you pawning a last-minute student on me…" Minako commented dryly to Yuuri in Japanese, before questioning Yuuri on the reason behind Yuri Plisetsky's presence in Japan.

"To put it simply, Yurio is left stranded with no apartment to return to in Saint Petersburg because of an over-sight on Viktor's part. Since Viktor was in Detroit to support that school musical I was working on then, I sort-of volunteer to take Yurio in for the time-being. I had invited both Viktor and Yurio to join me in Hasetsu for a holiday after… and no, I do not have the time to cover all the details to you now. I have a previous appointment to keep, but if you could find time to come back to Hasetsu before June comes around – I just might update you on my plans about my figure skating career." Yuuri told Minako matter-of-factly before leaving the duo to get accustomed with one another as he made a move to leave for the Tokyo Recording Studio.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 28/4/17


	63. Chapter 63

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Character

Chapter 63

Viktor Nikiforov was restless, throughout his plane ride from Boston to Japan, Fukuoka – he couldn't find it in him to sit still. Even trying to sleep on the flight is pointless, he was constantly buzzing with energy over the idea of meeting Yuuri again. Meanwhile, Yuuri had arrived home and is now introducing his family members to Yurio and the pets.

"Mom, Dad… I'm home, where's Mari-nee?" Yuuri asks as reached out his hands to catch Vic-chan before it could tackle him down by ramming into him out of eagerness and excitement.

"Mari is cleaning the hot spring, do you need me to call her?" Toshiya Katsuki questions Yuuri as he responded.

"Oh my… you've brought guests?" Hiroko Katsuki took in the sight of the blond teen with a look of surprise donned on her features.

"Well… yes, because of some oversight of his room-mate – he was lock out of his apartment and since his room-mate is coming by to Hasetsu after competing in World. I thought to bring him over first, it's a little impromptu I know but I'm sure we could figure out where to host him for the period of his stay." Yuuri explained, inwardly berating himself for not having the insight to warn his parents that he had invited Viktor over to stay for a while during the off-seasons.

"Oh… okay, and who is this room-mate of his? When should we be expecting his room-mate to turn up?" Hiroko asks Yuuri back in response, while she runs a mental check over the rooms available for unexpected guests.

"…Actually Mom… I was thinking maybe we should host them in the family wing instead of the guest wing." Yuuri took a deep breath before he speaks, his words tumbling forth in a rush-like way as he tried desperately to avoid the urge of looking away from his parents.

Now he caught both his parents' attention, the Katsuki couple shared a look among themselves before turning back to Yuuri and prompted. "Okay… any special reason why you insists on housing them in the family wing instead of the guests wing?"

"Erm… like I mentioned earlier, he was here because I volunteered to take him in so he's considered a private guest of mine. As for his room-mate, well… his room-mate is my new figure-skating coach so I think it's kind of self-explanatory why I suggest to house them in the family wing of the inn. Last but not least, the two of them are staying with us for at least two months and I'm expecting our guest rooms to get fully booked over the next two weeks. We should received the booking by this evening, do keep a look-out on that." Yuuri eventually managed to explain his reasonings, but still fail to get across to his parents' of his new coach identity.

'Oh well… it isn't as if they couldn't recognized Viktor when he's here…' Yuuri thought to himself as he led the confused Yurio through the inn entrance and headed for the family wing.

"You can sit around here while I go and ready you a room for your stay." Yuuri told Yurio, before he pry his toy miniature poodle off his shoulder and set it down on the tatami flooring and order for it to stay put.

Vic-chan whine in protests but eventually caved when Yuuri remains firm in his orders, and when Yuuri finally emerged from the storage room that would be used to house Yurio for the period of the teen's stay – he end up staring at the sight of his poodle in the middle of stare-down with Viktor's Makkachin. Alright, maybe a stare-down wasn't quite the right description – to put it simply, the two poodles are observing one another in wariness.

"Vic-chan, come here." Yuuri started, and the dog trotted over to Yuuri obediently.

Yuuri squatted down and patted his poodle for a minute, before he introduced the poodles to one another. He left Yurio's kitten for last in the pets' introduction session, since Vic-chan obviously had no problem accepting the kitten in his territory.

"Yuuri, who is this friend of yours?" Mari Katsuki's voice was heard from the stairway, and Yuuri turned towards his elder sister only to find the said female staring at Yurio with unbidden interests.

"Mari-nee, this is Yuri Plisetsky from the Russian skating team. He's debuting in the senior group next season. I know he looks like Mihato, but please avoid staring at him with that starstruck look of yours – I don't need you to freak him out." Yuuri deadpan as he addressed his elder sister.

Thankfully, Mari Katsuki wasn't that much of a fan-girl so she managed to keep her fan-girl mode in check before commenting. "Okay… but having another Yuri around is just going to confuse people, what do you usually call him?"

"…Yurio." Yuuri sweat-dropped as he responded.

"Alright then, Yurio he shall be." Mari Katsuki nodded as she said.

"…" As dreadful as Yurio finds this nick-name of his, he didn't bother to retaliate because unlike Viktor – Mari Katsuki is a family member of the Katsudon. He cannot expect them to call him by his name and addressed the Katsudon something else. So, he grudgingly resigned himself to the idea of being called Yurio by members of the Katsuki family.

It seems Viktor's belongings arrives before the man himself, and Yuuri when noticing the king size bed that sits in the front foyer of his family owned inn felt his brows twitching in annoyance. To think he had already warned Viktor not to ship so many things over, but it seems his reminders had fallen on deaf ears.

"Yuuri… are those?" Hiroko directed a questioning gaze to her son as she inquires upon taking in the sight of the bulk luggage that now sits in the front foyer of their inn.

"Yes, they belong to my new coach. No, I do not know why he would ship his bed over …" Yuuri responded, feeling the urge to face-palm as he took in the sight of Viktor's luggage.

"Actually, I think that bed was newly purchased for his use in Hasetsu. He probably intend to leave it here for his vacation use." Just then, Yurio interjected from behind, and Yuuri paused for a minute pondering over the validity of it before grudgingly agreed with Yurio's judgement.

"Oh well, we should probably move it into the banquet room then." Yuuri eventually conceded and suggested to his parents.

"Why the banquet room?" Hiroko was genuinely confused for a minute, until she heard her son's deadpan response.

"Well… with the number of bulk luggage down here, do you think any other rooms aside of the banquet room would be able to fit them in?" Yuuri raised an eyebrow up in question as he commented to his confused mother.

Thus, with help from Toshiya Katsuki – the father and son managed to bring Viktor's bulk luggage into the empty and unused banquet room that sits between the borders which separated the guests wing from the family wing.

"Where's Kasumi?" Yurio finally thought to ask during dinner time that evening, he recalls seeing the young woman boarding the same flight as them for Saga Airport but completely loses track of the said person after arrival at the Yu-topia hot spring.

"She's home visiting her family in Saga city, she would be here tomorrow morning." Yuuri responded, as Kasumi has family members in Saga City – the girl would not be staying in Hasetsu and instead would be traveling to and fro between Saga and Hasetsu on daily basis until the point when Yuuri shifted over to Saint Petersburg officially.

"Have you been over to the Ice-Castle yet?" Mari had ask Yuuri over dinner, while trying to eyeball Yurio from the corner of her eyes as discreet as possible.

"…Not yet, I will probably drop by tomorrow. I would like to use the rest of my evening to unpack the boxes shipped over three days ago from Tokyo." Yuuri responded, referring to the items he had engage Kanade's help in shipping back to Japan before they left Detroit.

"Understandable, you may want to transfer some over to Grandma's house – I don't think your room can fit in that much scores. Your cabinets are on the verge of over-flowing already." Mari commented, she was tasked with the duty of cleaning Yuuri's room while Yuuri was away in Detroit – and those cabinets in her younger brother's room are a nightmare for her to clean up.

"I know… I will get around to that eventually." Yuuri nodded in response, his repertoire collection took up a lot of space. That much, he was aware of – and Mari's suggestion of shifting some over to his late grandma's house for keeping does make sense.

Viktor's arrival at Yu-topia caused somewhat of a disturbance just like the earlier time around, the last time around Viktor's arrival was completely unexpected. This time around though, his arrival while expected – his actions taken upon the sight of the Katsuki couple was not expected. Yuuri dashes out to the front lobby of his family owned inn and was bestow by his parents looking completely stunned and his sister gaping like a fish.

"Oh… Makka, I missed you so much – care to let go of me now?" Viktor coax the over-size poodle of his to let go of him after being barrel into by the pets' team.

Yes, he was barreled down on his bottom due to the force behind the pets' tackling attack. Makkachin had bounded for him first, with Petya the kitten riding on Makka's head and then the mini-size poodle of Yuuri decided to join in the attack by ramming towards him from the side after he greeted the Katsuki couple with a hug. The combined force of the pets' attack caused him to fall back, and land on his bottom. Now, Makkachin and Yuuri's poodle sat on his chest while Petya the kitten sat atop of his head.

"Mari-nee, what's with the gaping look?" Yuuri asks his elder sister in a quizzical way, before turning his eyes on his pair of shell-shock parents.

"Dad? Mom? Are you okay?" Yuuri asks with a frown as he waved a hand in front of his parents' eyes drawing them back into the plane of reality.

"Yes son… we're fine. Just feeling a little surprise by Nikiforov-san's greeting…" Hiroko snapped her zoned-out mind back into reality and responded to Yuuri's concern.

"…What did he do?" Yuuri felt his eyebrow twitched as he asks.

"That idiot hug them both and kisses them on the cheeks greeting them as Mama Hiroko and Papa Toshiya, if you really wants to know." It was Yurio that answered Yuuri, since Katsuki Hiroko was blushing too much to answer Yuuri herself.

Yuuri felt the urge to bash his head against something hard upon Yurio's words, leave it to Viktor to make a dramatic entrance. Oh well, at least Viktor didn't mention anything about missing his mom's pork cutlet rice – since the man haven't had the chance to try out his mom's pork cutlet rice in this time-line yet. He could probably explain the reason how Viktor knows of his parents' name away by claiming that he had mentioned their names to Viktor before. As for Viktor's touchy greeting, he could chalk it up to Viktor being tipsy after over-indulging himself with the wine collection on his flight to Japan.

"Makkachin, Vic-chan – kindly released Viktor from your paws." Yuuri barked out to the poodles, while indicating for Yurio to pluck the kitten off Viktor's head and be careful not to let the kitten pluck any hair off Viktor to prevent further drama from enfolding. Viktor is very self-conscious about his hair-line problem… worrying constantly about going bald like Yakov does. No point letting the man blame the kitten for his hair problems.

Vic-chan glances between Viktor and his master, Yuuri before letting go of the silver-haired man it had seen pictures plastered in his master's room and trotted over to Yuuri obediently. Makkachin, meanwhile refuses to budge but with the removal of Petya from his head by an unwilling Yurio and the smaller size poodle getting off his chest – the silver-haired Russian finally recovered enough strength to shift back into a standing positions and ended up prying Makkachin off him with his two hands.

"Makkachin, behaved – I will play with you later." Viktor ordered when his puppy whine and nose around his leg seeking attention from him.

"Come on, I'll show you to your room. You can do your self-introduction to them later when you're somber." Yuuri gritted out as he stalked over and pulled the enthusiastic Russian towards the banquet room.

Behind them, Makkachin trotted dutifully after. Yurio, ducked back into his assigned room with his kitten in hands deciding not to dwell on what was going on between the Katsudon and that idiot old man now in the banquet room.

"That was the Viktor Nikiforov right? Yuuri's idol – that Russian skating legend?" Mari Katsuki finally had it in her to question her mother.

"I believe so… that was the name given by that young man before he gave us that hug." Hiroko murmurs back to Mari in return, still reeling from how her son's idol was now in their family inn and had addressed her as 'Mama Hiroko'.

"Since when did Yuuri gets so confident in dealing with people? He could actually speak to his idol figure without stuttering just now! I wouldn't have believed it until I saw it happens…" Mari was equally stunned by the earlier happenings, although she was more surprised by her brother's reactions than what Viktor Nikiforov had done.

Toshiya Katsuki, whom regained his sense sometime in between his wife conversation with his daughter eventually shrugged off that hug from his son's idol. He decided to chalk Viktor's strange way of greeting them as a side-effect of drinking too much, since he knows sometimes people do strange things under the alcohol influence.

In the privacy of the banquet room, Yuuri allows Viktor to cling on him and 'seduce' him. At first, Yuuri thought of lecturing Viktor but decided against it after observing the way Viktor was behaving. No point lecturing the guy when the man was clearly tipsy from all the wines intake from the flights, it is a miracle that Viktor is still coherent enough to hail a cab over to Yu-topia without getting lost on the way in his tipsy state of mind.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 29/4/17.


	64. Chapter 64

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Character

Chapter 64

Viktor Nikiforov woke to the sight of his beloved Yuuri sitting by the side of his bed patting Makkachin and another smaller size poodle appearing deep in thoughts. A groan slips passed his lips as he felt the presence of a headache pounding away in his head.

"Finally, awake huh? What on earth possessed you to over-indulged in alcohol on board the flight?" Yuuri frowned down at Viktor as he asks, though he supposed he should thank god that the Russian didn't attempt to strip in front of his parents. That would not be a good impression as far as first meeting is concern.

"Oh Yuuri… I didn't mean to, I was just trying to unwind. I was getting too restless on the flights, and since calling you wasn't a viable option so I took to browse the wine menu instead. At first, I was just thinking a glass or two, but eventually it ended up being a bottle or two." Viktor explained pulling on his best puppy eyes look at Yuuri as he responded.

"…Do you know what you did last night while intoxicated in my parents' presences?" Yuuri prompted, knowing the man unlike him wasn't a blank-out drunk so the man must have some recollection of the previous night's memory.

"Hm.m.. I have a rough idea of it, I got too chummy with them – right?" Viktor started as he bury his head into Yuuri's belly while batting away Makkachin from pouncing on him again.

"Exactly, you are lucky they can see that you are tipsy although your behavior stunned them somewhat especially after you call them papa Toshiya and mama Hiroko. You had my mom blushing for an hour-long before she finally gets over it." Yuuri commented dryly before shoving a glass of water and two aspirin pills into the Russian's hand.

"Oh gods… I didn't give anything away, did I?" Viktor finally had it in him to ask, remembering Yuuri's repeated reminders that they need to break the news of their relationship to the Katsuki family slowly.

"Not really, you just got over-friendly with them. I didn't give you a chance to linger on behind to molest me in front of them if that's what you're thinking. Although, you did molest me plenty last night after I brought you in here to get you settled down for the night." Yuuri deadpan but he was thankful halfway through Viktor's seduction act the alcohol in the man's system finally succeeded in knocking the man out or the jet lag and lethargy finally caught up with the man. Eventually, Yuuri was able to escape from Viktor's room without doing the deed. He didn't want to out his relationship with Viktor to his family members because they were too vocal about their activities behind closed-door.

"Good morning, Nikiforov-san. I hope you are feeling better this morning." Hiroko Katsuki greeted when Yuuri led Viktor into the dining area of the inn.

"Much better, thank you and I apologize for my dramatic entrance last night." Viktor hurried to thank Yuuri's mother for the hospitality and apologized for his over-friendly acts the day before.

"It's okay, drunken words they were – I had to admit I am flatter to hear them." Hiroko smiles and waved off Viktor's apology before asking if Viktor would want to try the hot spring after breakfast.

"…What on earth did you say to my mom last night?" Yuuri whispered in a hiss to Viktor once his mother is out of earshot.

"Unfortunately, I can't remember but knowing me… I might have shower her with dozen praises that has to do with you?" Viktor wasn't particularly certain of his tipsy speech last night upon arrival, since he just spoke without thought most of the time.

To which, Yuuri flushed an adorable shade of red before scooting back somewhat to avoid being kissed by Viktor. Not that he doesn't enjoy kissing the man but he was afraid that his mom would turn around and catch them in the act. That would be awkward and not to mention embarrassing for him to stomach.

Just then Yurio stumbled into the dining area, and the first thing he did was to poke Viktor away from Yuuri with his foot. "Scoot over and make place for me."

"Oh Yurio… good morning to you too. Why do I have to scoot over, there's plenty of space on Yuuri's other side." Viktor protested, pouting adorably as he did so.

"I don't care, I want to sit here! Besides, I'm here to divide you up lest you can't keep your hands to yourself. Last night you had the excuse of being tipsy and drunk for your touchy acts but now you're somber. I'm sure you don't want to spoil your reputation in front of the Katsudon's family members, right?" Yurio throw back in Russian, since his voice wasn't exactly low to avoid being overheard.

"Right, I shall leave you two to enjoy the breakfast in peace." Yuuri flicked his glance between the Russian duo before he stood to leave the dining area.

"Yuuri… where are you going?" Viktor started when he noticed Yuuri's intention to leave the dining place.

"Out for a bit, I'm going to check if Mari-nee needs help at the check-in counter. In the meantime, Viktor you should apologized for your oversight to Yurio. Later, I'll bill you the amount spend for Yurio's flight from Saint Petersburg to Tokyo, and later from Tokyo to Hasetsu." Yuuri responded, placating Viktor and assuring the man that he is not leaving the inn just going to check if the front counter needs any help.

"Mari-nee, do you need any help down here?" Yuuri asks as he approached the reception counter of Yu-topia Hot Spring Inn.

"Good, you're here. Can you explain to me why we suddenly have an onslaught of booking when business has been ridiculously slow and going on a downslope over the past year and a half?" Mari Katsuki arched an eyebrow up at Yuuri in question, while waving the stack of booking reservation records that came in through their website.

"…Alright, I'll tell you but keep this quiet around here for a while okay?" Yuuri let out a sigh before he proceeds on to tell his sister all about the idol project going on and how he had agreed to join the group on the condition that the company would help to boost the dwindling tourism industry in Hasetsu by working with the local tourism organization.

"Okay… so I take it all these bookings are actually for the filming crew for whichever promotion campaign to boost Hasetsu tourism with the members' of this upcoming idol group that you're a part of?" Mari questions still finding it unbelievable that her baby brother is actually going to enter the showbiz industry.

"Yes, I believe so." Yuuri nodded in response, and the earlier phone conversation with Kasumi had enlighten him that his earlier interview done with the JSF and its' affiliated public relations officer would be released on the website of JSF officially this afternoon at 2 p.m.

"Okay, so Kasumi is now your personal assistant and she's going to come by on daily basis now?" Mari clarifies next, before she sighed and filed the information away for later use. Next, she took out another print-out and ask Yuuri.

"Since our banquet room is now being used by your childhood idol and new coach as a bedroom, where do you intend to hold your graduation party this evening?"

"Wait… graduation party? Did Yuuko instigated this party thing again?'" Yuuri blurted out half in shock when he finished digesting his elder sister's words.

"Actually, Miyabi puts her up to it. Yes, the Koshimizu family were invited to the party." Mari responded to Yuuri's unasked question.

"…We will just host it in the dining area then. Is mom going to cook for the event, or we are doing it as a potluck event?" Yuuri ponders over the remaining areas that is possible to hold an event, before suggesting to use the dining area of Yu-topia.

"Actually, Mitsuba Delicacy's is catering for the party." Mari responded evenly, completely unfazed by the information she had just let slipped to Yuuri.

Yuuri, however, was left gaping at his sister. Mitsuba Delicacy's – he wasn't unfamiliar with, that was one of the top Food & Beverages company in Japan with its' headquarters based in Tokyo. Why would Mari order catering for a mere graduation party for him? It doesn't make sense.

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't order from them, in fact, Katsuhiro volunteers to cater the food himself. If it makes you feel better, you can just treat it as someone sponsors your party food." Mari deadpan as she responded.

"Katsuhiro… where did I hear that name before?" Yuuri murmurs, and in response Mari handed him a gourmet magazine and his jaws dropped literally. The name Mitsuba Katsuhiro was print neatly and clearly on the magazine front cover, but all Yuuri could register is the face featured on the cover page of the magazine. That, and his mom's signature dish – Katsudon was feature under the 'must try' column for the Kyushu food week in the March/April 2016 edition of the magazine 'Gourmet Today'.

"Bloody hell… no wonder I find the name familiar. That is the younger brother of Takumi-san, still it doesn't explains why he wants to sponsor the food for the party though?" Yuuri frowned as he handed the magazine back to Mari in confusion.

"Did I forgot to mention that I'm dating him?" Mari commented then, and she raised her head to look at Yuuri when she heard the unmistakenable'thud' sound coming from her brother's direction.

"…" Yuuri was shell-shocked, completely stunned by his sister's words even as he slumped down on the bench placed at the lobby for guests to await their check-in during busy hours. Goodness, his sister dating someone … this was yet another unexpected happening that never occurs in the earlier time-line.

"When and how did you meet him?" Yuuri asked, still looking dazed from Mari's bombshell news.

"Oh… at the last concert of the Y2K Boys. We bump into one another and he accidentally splash his coffee on my coat, with him insisting on compensating me in one way or another so we ended up heading for coffee while he send my coat off for dry-cleaning. While waiting we ended up making small talks and all, eventually the topic went on to food related subjects and then it moves on to famous food delicacy from each region of Japan. I might have mentioned a few times about mom's Katsudon being the best in Kyushu region, and he actually dropped by a few days later just to try the dish." Mari explained, and Yuuri found his mouth twitching uncontrollably as he finally took in the slight difference of the reception counter.

"Okay… so because of his visit and recommendation to local gourmet critics, mom's Katsudon ended up featured in the latest issue of the gourmet magazine?" Yuuri commented, no wonder there seems to have a sudden increase in dine-in customers yesterday evening when he passes by the dining area of the inn.

"Yes, in a way… because of the sudden influx of customers dining in, we had to increase the numbers of our kitchen helpers. Of course, part of the influx is probably because of Minako's shutting the gates to her bar over the past few months but business is business so…" Mari shrugged her response before turning her attention back to the paperwork on hand.

Yuuri sweat-dropped while he was wondering if his parents would be able to cope with the sudden influx of dine-in customers, it seems like there was nothing much he could do to help. In terms of restaurant and hotel operations, his sister probably have a clearer idea as compared to him whom majors in the fields of performing arts'.

"No need for you to worry, Yuuri. I have it all covered. Mom and Dad has taken in trainees in the kitchen, and we have some local high-schoolers whom has approached me about working part-time with us. Granted, there are still details to work out but I think we could handle the influx of business. For now, you just need to concentrate on your skating career and that idol thing you are a part of. Who knows if tourism does revived in Hasetsu, the closed down accommodation sites might reopen for business and our work-load would be lighten-up then." Mari told Yuuri when she noticed how her brother seems to struggle with the idea of putting thoughts into words.

"If you're certain…" Yuuri eventually caved and sighed in response.

"I'm quite certain. Now off you go, I think those two should finished sorting out their issues by now already – don't you think?" Mari said as she glances towards the dining area where she could easily spot a certain silver-haired man peeking out in search of Yuuri, most likely.

Yuuri followed Mari's eyes towards the dining area, and found his lips twitching involuntarily at the sight that meet his eyes. Viktor and Vic-chan had their heads peeking out around the corner peering at him in unison, somehow the sight just seems very comical to him. Makkachin, however, choose to run over to Yuuri instead of mirroring Viktor and Vic-chan's behavior. Yuuri caught Makkachin before he could be bowl over by the hyperactive poodle, while Viktor and his namesake puppy eyed Makkachin with envy.

Later that afternoon, Yuuri nearly spat out his drink during his break while at the rink when his eyes landed on a new post on instagram by Yurio. It was a picture of Viktor and his poodle – Vic-chan appealing to him with the same puppy eyes look as he cuddled up with Makkachin.

"…" Yuuri sweat-dropped as he read through the comments left on Yurio's instagram by Viktor's rink-mates in Russia. Since most of the comments were in cyrillic, Yuuri ended up giving up on the idea of reading them although after the shock left him he was quite amused by the image of the duo's behavior. It seems Yurio has some talents in snapping pictures, at least snap-shots – Viktor had told him that he had nicked the photos of the Sochi banquet from Yurio's phone both times.

"Yuuri, my dear… what are you looking at?" Viktor asks sounding extremely curious as the man attempt to peek at Yuuri's phone.

"No peeking, go and look through your own instagram feeds. I just found something amusing." Yuuri responded with a smirk, wondering just how Viktor would react to Yurio's post and his rink-mates' comments.

Viktor's response is unique in a sense, he first expressed displeasure on the caption Yurio had used to describe the picture muttering something about he was most definitely not jealous of his own dog. After a while, Viktor nodded in agreement to some comments under the post about him being cute in the picture.

"…Oi, Old Man! Are you going to show me the SP you choreograph for my senior début or not?" Yurio rolls his eyes at Viktor's actions and hollered at the man from where he was perch, which is the opposite end of the rink in Ice Castle Hasetsu after he completed his warm-up on the ice.

"Tomorrow, the music will be coming in only tonight. So I can't show you the choreography now, no point showing you without the music." Viktor looked back up at Yurio before he respond, that wasn't a lie – he really didn't have the music ready yet. Thankfully, he didn't forget to commission the piece – he was just distracted that he actually gave the person in charge of the music clips editing the wrong date. Oh well, a slight mix up of the date won't kills – just delay the blond from seeing the choreography right away.

"Sheesh… idiot old man!" Yurio muttered under his breath before calling out for Yuuri to show him another series of footwork.

Yuuri, of course, obliged as he ignores the way Viktor starting coo-ing over his excellent footwork again.

"Viktor, do me a favor and shut up." Yuuri throws over his shoulder to the older Russian skater, without glancing in the man's direction. Viktor sighed as he switch over his fan-boy mode to his coaching mode, this is the only way he could avoid coo-ing over Yuuri's footwork.

Leaving Yurio to run through a new set of footwork exercise, and Viktor to supervise the teen – Yuuri headed towards skates rental counter and approached his childhood friend – Yuuko.

"Do you still have my old practice videos from our beginner skating lessons?" Yuuri asks, successfully causing Yuuko to take a double look at him.

"I do have them… but what exactly brought this on? I didn't upload them on YouTube…so you needn't worry about them finding out how we used to imitate Viktor Nikiforov's program for private practice." Yuuko questions, arching an eyebrow up as she voiced her doubt across to Yuuri.

"Can you send me some of them, I don't need a lot – just the clip when I started skating. The first time I did a loop and etc. I only need the documentation video record of all my first time experienced on the ice." Yuuri responded, most likely the videos would be edited into the music video of his solo music track by the video editor from Queens Records later.

"Oh… okay, can I ask what do you need them for?" Yuuko asks still a little confused by Yuuri's sudden requests for those old practice videos of theirs.

"That's a secret, you will know when the time comes." Yuuri responded, smiling a secret smile at Yuuko that nearly had his childhood crush and friend swooning in response.

"Yuuri, seriously – do you know how attractive you look when you are confident?" Yuuko suddenly ask, causing Yuuri to turn wide eyes on her.

"Erm… no, not really." Yuuri responded, shaking his head. Confidence is something that doesn't comes easy to him before, and if he hadn't had the extra twenty years of experience under his belt he highly doubt he could be as confident as he was now.

That evening, the skaters trio arrived back at Yu-topia to find the dining area crowded with people. Viktor and Yurio seems stunned by the number of people in the dining area, but Yuuri looks completely at ease.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 30/4/17


	65. Chapter 65

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Character

Chapter 65

"Yuuri… any idea why there's suddenly a crowd in the dining area?" Viktor ask still staring at the crowd gathered in the dining area of Yu-topia with disbelieving eyes.

"Miyabi had it in her to organize a graduation party for ourselves. Come on, let's go over. I'll introduce them to you, I did mention you would get to meet a few more of my friends before. Didn't I? After that, I suppose you can choose to stay for the party or go on ahead for a soak in the hot spring." Yuuri said to Viktor as they headed over to the dining area with Yurio in tow.

"Oh, there you are – Yuuri! I was just about to call you and demand your return." Koshimizu Miyabi exclaimed upon the sight of Yuuri, and only after she finished growling at her friend did she realized that Yuuri had brought along two guests of his own.

"Oh my… Viktor Nikiforov and Yuri Plisetsky." Miyabi murmured before turning back to Yuuri with a mock glare, "Why didn't you tell me in advanced that you have guests?"

"…Does it matters? Either way, you would still be organizing a party for our graduation – isn't that so?" Yuuri responded with mild skepticism to Miyabi's words.

"True… but if you had told me in advanced, I would have held the party elsewhere in a more suitable setting." Miyabi sighed as she responded to Yuuri's words.

Yuuri rolls his eyes at Miyabi's words before answering, "Never mind that now. Since I'm already here, you might as well kick off the party officially."

"Right… come on, we are having a toast to celebrate." Miyabi urged as she drag Yuuri over to the table where the beverages are and pressed a glass of red wine into Yuuri's hand.

Yuuri sighed as he followed Miyabi into the crowd, leaving the two Russians watching from the sidelines. After a few rounds of toasts with the wine, Yuuri finally managed to squeeze himself out from the crowd and headed back to where he had left Viktor and Yurio to re-join the Russian duo.

"I apologized for the rowdy crowd, anyway – feel free to grab a bite from the food counter. Apparently, my sister is dating the co-owner of a Food & Beverages company and the said person has decided to sponsor the catering service for this party. The menu catered is a fusion between Asian and Western cuisine so I'm sure something is bound to suit your taste buds." Yuuri told the Russian duo as he led them over to where the food were centralized and kept warm.

Upon the sight of food, Viktor need not be urged before he grabbed a plate from the side and started piling food on the plate to satisfy his hunger. Yurio, however, was a little more reserved in his actions and he didn't bothered to stay for the length of the party. As soon as he satisfy his hunger, the blond had excused himself and spend the rest of the evening hiding away in his assigned room with his kitten – Petya.

Viktor is the exact opposite though, not only did the man stay for the entire duration of the party. He actually stayed by Yuuri's side throughout and tried his best to eavesdrop on Yuuri's conversation. Some conversation he managed to catch a few words here and there, and some he was completely lost as the talking speed between the conversation participants was too fast for him to latch on.

During the party, Viktor met Mitsuba Katsuhiro – the man whom was dating Mari Katsuki according to his beloved Yuuri. They didn't really interact, the only time they did – it was for him to feedback on the food served for the party and whether it is to his liking. Yuuri, however engaged the man in conversation several times during the party. Although, Viktor supposed he couldn't fault Yuuri for that since the man was dating Yuuri's sister.

"So, what were you speaking to him about?" Viktor had ask later when Yuuri re-joined him at the table he was sitting at while posting some pictures of the party on his instagram.

"His intentions for dating my sister, and how serious he was with it. Seeing as this didn't happen in our earlier time-line, I was quite concern about it." Yuuri responded calmly, so far Katsuhiro's response was to his liking but it certainly didn't stop Yuuri from threatening the man bodily harm if Mari was hurt by the man in any sense.

"Looks like the five years in Detroit had you growing a backbone… Yuuri-sempai." A young man spoke up as he took a seat at the table where Yuuri and Viktor was.

"Viktor, meet Shunji – he's the younger brother of Miyabi. Currently doing a degree in education at Saga University. He's one of my closer friends as well, despite the obvious age difference between us." Yuuri introduced Viktor to the young man – Koshimizu Shunji.

"Hi there, Viktor Nikiforov. I've heard about you from my sister a couple of times, and of course anyone whom knows Yuuri sempai knows how much of a fan-boy he was of you several years back. Or was it still the same now?" Shunji asks as he turn his eyes towards the blushing Yuuri with a raise of an eyebrow.

Yuuri suddenly felt the urge to hide when he noticed both Shunji and Viktor are now staring at him, waiting for his response. "Geez, okay – I'll always be a fan of Viktor. Is this good enough?" Yuuri eventually caved to the pressure of their eyes on him and ended up proclaiming his undying worshipping of his all-time idol Viktor Nikiforov.

"Oh Yuuri~~~ I'm also a very big fan of yours!" Viktor beamed brightly as he launched himself at Yuuri hugging the man tightly in front of Koshimizu Shunji, totally forgetting about their surrounding again.

Thankfully, no one aside from Koshimizu Shunji had seen the way Viktor look at Yuuri. Otherwise, Yuuri would probably dies from mortification. Yuuri, whom happens to not forget about Shunji's presence throws a glare towards the young man before gritting out. "Shunji, not a word from you."

"…Fine, I won't say anything to your parents' if that's what you are warning me about. I supposed my sister already knew what was going on between the two of you?" Shunji questions back in return.

"She has always been too perceptive for her own good, I didn't confirm her suspicion though." Yuuri sighed as his thoughts drifted towards Miyabi for a minute, before he turns his attention back to Viktor whom is still clinging to him.

"Go, I'll help to distract the lots of them." Shunji said then, and Yuuri nodded to the young man in gratitude before heading his way to the hot spring with Viktor tagging along behind him like a dutiful puppy.

Speaking of puppy, Yuuri briefly wonders where on earth did Makkachin and Vic-chan went off to. They weren't anywhere near the party area, did his parents' kept the two dogs away from the dining area where the party is going on?

Turns out the two dogs had followed Yurio and Petya to the blond's room, and ended up staking a claim to the futon that Yurio was using as a bedding. Tried as he might, Yurio was unable to chase the dogs out from the room and ended up glaring at the two dogs half the night before sleep finally manages to claim him.

"Oh my… this is so cute!" Viktor whispered as he uses his phone to capture the sight of Yurio being surrounded by the pets while he slept on. Against his better judgement, Viktor actually dared to post the picture on his instagram account.

To which when Yurio woke and noticed Viktor's latest post, he barged into the dining area screaming bloody murder at Viktor. Totally ruining his docile image in front of the Katsuki family members, but at that point he could hardly care less. He just wanted to hit Viktor for posting that picture, because of Viktor's post he ended up having to endure a dozen comments from his fan-club Yuri's angels about how sweet and pure he looks while asleep and how cute the image was of the pets surrounding him while he slept on.

This was the exact situation that Yuuri found himself facing as he entered the dining area with Kasumi on his heels. He flicked a glance at the agitated Yurio and the desperately trying to stay hidden Viktor and pressed the heel of his palm to his head.

"Viktor, what did you do to piss Yurio off today?" Yuuri started after a sigh.

"Why do you automatically assume it's me that does something to piss Yurio off?" Viktor pouted as he protested to his beloved Yuuri on the issue.

Yuuri rolls his eyes at Viktor's response, and throws back evenly. "Because it always is the case when Yurio got so agitated in the morning. What did you do this time? Did you post something on your instagram without asking him for permission again?"

At this, Yurio paused in his chase of Viktor – too stunned to react. After a while, he dropped himself into the nearest empty seat he could find before turning his eyes on Yuuri and asks. "How'd you know he posted something on the instagram?"

"Lucky guess." Yuuri answered, inwardly cursing at his slip-up. This was one of the often occurs routines back in the earlier time-line so it also was the first thing that came into his mind upon witnessing such a sight during breakfast time.

"Oh, hello Kasumi-chan. Have you taken your breakfast already?" Hiroko Katsuki asks as she placed the breakfast tray in front of Yurio whom finally had it in him to stop chasing Viktor down.

Kasumi turned towards the matron of the Katsuki family, greeted the woman politely with a forty-five degree bow and replied. "Good morning, Hiroko-baasan. I've already taken my breakfast before coming over."

"Oh… in that case, would you like a cup of tea?" Hiroko smiles back as she retracted the breakfast offer and exchange it with an offer of refreshments instead.

"Tea would be great, thank you." Kasumi responded with a smile.

Turning her attention to the table where Yuuri had taken to sit at, Kasumi greeted both Russian with a smile before taking a seat next to the sullen Russian teen. Viktor, of course, is once again sitting next to Yuuri not wanting to separate from his beloved.

"So, what's on the itinerary today?" Yuuri asks as he succeeded in his task of prying Viktor off his shoulder.

"Your morning and afternoon is free so you can probably used them for your figure skating training, but we need to head out to Saga City this evening for the filming of the music video – Shinos." Kasumi said, glancing and citing the details reflected on the tablet device.

Before Yuuri could respond, Viktor interjected and asks. "Can I go with you? I've always wanted to see what the filming of a music video is like." Viktor appeals with his puppy eyes look as he fixed them on Yuuri.

"…I suppose I can let you tag-along if you don't disrupt the filming process." Yuuri eventually caved to Viktor's puppy eyes, and he knows the filming crew won't have problems with uninvited guests tagging along if the guests doesn't hinders their work.

"No worries, Yuuri! I'll be on my best behavior." Viktor swore as he promised.

To which, Yuuri merely shakes his head in response and muttered something like 'we shall see…' before turning his attention back to his breakfast. In the meantime, Kasumi dropped an email to the filming crew about a guest tagging along for this evening filming.

Since Yuuri had the morning and afternoon free, he decided to join Viktor and Yurio over at Ice-castle. Kasumi, meanwhile, was request to stay behind at the inn to check and tally Yuuri's credit card statement from the bank. Kasumi is to highlight the cost of Yurio's air ticket fee and accommodation costs as well as the other miscellaneous expenses accumulated for the trip before sending the total amount to Yuuri so he could requests Viktor to reimburse him the amount.

At the Ice Castle, Yuuri wasn't surprised by Viktor's requests of letting both Yurio and him to listen to the two music clips. As usual, the first music clip is the soothing piece of 'On Love: Agape' and the second music clip is the sensual piece of 'On Love: Eros'. Yurio make a face upon hearing the first piece and insists on doing the Eros piece, but Viktor rejected Yurio's demand and assigned the teen with Agape instead.

The banter between the duo was so similar to the earlier time line that it actually give Yuuri a sense of déjà vu when he witness the banter between the Russian duo.

"Fine, I'll do Agape but you better make sure that the program is a good one." Yurio snarled in response, still sore over Viktor's refusal to let him skate to Eros instead.

"Now that's settled – Yuuri, you would be skating to Eros. I'm sure you can handle it right?" Viktor shifted his eyes towards the laid-back figure of Yuuri then, as he asks.

"…I supposed it all boils down to what are the components for the routine." Yuuri responded using the excuse of his weak jumps techniques as a camouflage of his confidence of handling the Eros program.

Viktor nodded, before he restarted the music again and started to show the two routines. The first routine is of course the Agape program which Yurio was assigned to, and Yuuri watched the moves in details despite the program was not for him. He noted that there wasn't any difference in the moves for Agape, then again – Yurio unlike him, hadn't had the experience of doing the program before so there is no point for Viktor to change the choreography at all.

When it comes down to Eros, Yuuri was surprise that Viktor didn't change any elements in the program as well. When questioned in private, Viktor said he cannot afford to level up the difficulty level of it since he is demonstrating the routine in front of Yurio. The teen would be suspicious if the level of difficulty for Eros differs too much from Yuuri's skills presented in Sochi GPF. However, Viktor did mention that they could tweak the program along the way or he can leave it up to Yuuri to surprise him since Yuuri had the habit of changing the routine on a spur of the moment while skating on the ice.

Yurio was asked to repeat Viktor's demostration of the program right away, and as usual was penalized by Viktor over his lack of PCS elements. Viktor then asks how many quads Yuuri is able to do now, which Yuuri responded that he had the Quad Toe Loop and Quad Salchow down and is working on his Quad Lutz. He hadn't had the time to work on Quad Flip yet due to his hectic schedule before…

"So… do I need to run through the routine of Eros for you?" Yuuri then asks as he tightened the lace of his skates.

"Later, I'll look over your replication of the routine later. I need to drop Yurio off at the temple first." Viktor smile as he told Yuuri before dragging the reluctant blond after him as they made their way to the only temple in the town of Hasetsu.

"Oh boy… he's putting Yurio through the mediation thing again. Oh well, let's hope Yurio can find his inner Agape easier this time around." Yuuri sweat-dropped as Viktor pulled Yurio with him out from the Ice Castle. Meanwhile, Yuuri took the time to work on landing a Quad Lutz cleanly with every intention to move on to work on the Quad Flip once he had the Lutz down.

"Yuuko, I'm going to work on my Quads. Can you supervise me while I'm working on it, better yet – can you film it down so I could study it later." Yuuri requested, which then prompts Yuuko into actions and dump her duty on her husband – Nishigori Takeshi.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 1/5/17


	66. Chapter 66

Title: Stop, Pause & Rewind: Butterfly Effects

Featuring confident Yuuri, and a love-sick Viktor… Original Characters involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to YOI characters. However, I do own the rights to the Original Character

Chapter 66

Yuuri's run-through of the Eros program was smooth, his only duty is to perfect the quads jumps in the program. Unlike the first time around, Yuuri has no problem channeling his inner Eros this time around. Of course, the silly claim of envisioning himself as a bowl of pork cutlet rice did not occurs when Viktor asks the baiting question of how Yuuri intends to tempt the audiences.

"That's for me to know, and you to find out." Yuuri smirked as he responded to Viktor's words, causing Viktor to flush crimson without the aid of any alcohol intake.

"Geez, enough of the flirting already. Don't spoil my appetite for dinner for the second time in the week." Yurio complains as he purposely pull a gagging reaction on the flirting duo.

The trio was in the midst of having an early dinner when Yuuri received a call from Yuuko. Finding it strange for Yuuko to call him when they just left the rink, Yuuri answered the call without any hesitation.

"Yuuri, I'm so sorry. I didn't know what the girls did until minutes ago." Yuuko started to apologize as soon as Yuuri answered the call.

"…Huh? Wait, what did your girls do?" Yuuri felt his eyebrow twitching, feeling the déjà vu from the earlier time-line whereby his imitation skate of Viktor's program spread like a wildfire on YouTube that ultimately ends up with the Russian dropping everything and came over to Hasetsu. However, seeing as that didn't happen in this time-line – he didn't really know what to expect from the triplets this time around.

"I can't explain… I don't know how to explain actually. I've drop you the links to the videos and the news-feed. Just comb through them okay?" Yuuko said before hanging up abruptly on Yuuri, and followed by the buzz of incoming message on Whatsapp.

"Yuuri? What happen?" Viktor asks sounding concern upon noticing the frown on the Asian's face.

"The triplets uploaded a video of our training session in Ice-Castle, so the public is now aware that the three of us are together in Japan. Basically, it means both your trail has been leaked to the public since it wasn't a secret that I'll be in Japan until the new season starts up again. I bet someone is hounding Yakov for details now in Russia as well. Either way, we need to do a press conference before the media had it in mind to spin ridiculous tales of it all." Yuuri commented before he dialed Kasumi's number and told the latter to contact the JSF. It is time to unveil the name of Yuuri's new coach, and his plans for the new season.

"I guess we should all be thankful the routine for both SPs wasn't leak to the public..." Yuuri eventually said after he had Kasumi contact the JSF and work on calling an impromptu press conference later this evening.

When Yuuri failed to receive a response from Viktor, he looked over at the Russian only to end up on the receiving end of Viktor's look of amazement.

"What? Why are you staring at me like this?" Yuuri sweat-dropped as he asks, fidgeting somewhat uncomfortably in his seat.

"I'm amazed…"

"…About?"

"I'm amazed that you aren't panicking over the situation." Viktor eventually said while Yurio just blinked uncomprehendingly at Viktor's words.

"…I think it's quite obvious. There is nothing for me to panic over – sure, it's an inconvenience that the peaceful quiet holiday was disrupted by the public speculations. Still, it wasn't anything embarrassing enough to call for my panic. As for the announcing of my plans during the press conference, I think that's something that has to come out eventually. It's just a matter of timing, since the public has already caught on to the two of you are in Japan with me. We might as well come outright with the announcing of the plans…" Yuuri stated flatly.

After dinner, Yuuri had Kasumi drive both Viktor and him over to Saga City for the filming of the music video while Yurio occupy himself with the task of going through the instagram feeds back in his room at Yu-topia.

The music video for the song – Shinos was film in the studio set at the Shinomiya Production Studio in Saga City. After the filming of the music video, the press conference was call and took place in the front lobby of the said studio building. Together with the announcement made of Yuuri's future figure skating career plans and that Viktor Nikiforov would be taking up the role of being his coach in figure skating. JSF also took the opportunity to unveil the sports idol project in front of the media by introducing the members of the Shinos.

The day concluded with a photo-taking session focused on the idol group Shinos by the media, and the announcing of the release date for the mini-album before the press people finally leave the building.

Of course, Viktor didn't waste any time hounding Yuuri for details about the idol project thing which Yuuri proceeds on to fill Viktor in along their journey back to Hasetsu from Saga City.

"Yuuri, what was all that fuss towards the end of the press conferences about?" Viktor asks as soon as the reporters left the building, and they were left to their own devices.

"That was the official announcement about the upcoming début of the sports idol group – Shinos sanctioned by the National Sports Association of Japan. Basically, it's a collaboration project between the sports organization in Japan to encourage youngsters in joining the professional sports industry." Yuuri sighed, seeing no way of keeping the news away from Viktor's knowledge finally let it slips to the Russian.

"Oh… so that music video filming earlier on?" Viktor wonder out loud as he prompts Yuuri for more information.

"Yes, that is for our first track in the album. They had already done the MV for the 2nd and 3rd track back in Tokyo, since it doesn't involves me. At least the Asian edition of the album doesn't need me to make any appearance in the music video for the 2nd and 3rd track, since the former is a solo track by Haruka and the latter is a duet piece sang by Kanade and Hiroaki. They will be coming by Hasetsu next week to complete the rest of the music videos filming, since Kanade kind of need to take part in the Saga Tennis Club internal ranking tournament this week. Haruka has to promote his latest movie with the rest of the filming crew for that newly released movie. Hiroaki… I'm not sure what's he's busy with this week. Either way, they are coming by next week so I probably won't be at the rink too much when they are here since I am a part of the group." Yuuri said then, and almost immediately Viktor's mood plummet to a new low – causing Yuuri to sweat-drop at his dramatic flair.

"Viktor… don't look so down, I won't be free tomorrow but the day after I don't have anything planned on my schedule. If you like to, I could bring you around Saga City for sight-seeing? As for next week, well… we might not spend time together during the day but we could perhaps hang out at night?" Yuuri suggested, since Viktor already knows Hasetsu quite well – they never actually goes about the town for a sight-seeing trip.

"Really? I would love to, perhaps we can have a movie night next week? Speaking of sight-seeing trip around Saga city, that's a nice idea. I've never really explore Saga city before, the only city in Kyushu that I had explore before is Fukuoka. By the way can we also chance a visit to your high school? I'm interested in the environment you used to study in… is that possible?" Viktor asks, his dejected mood dispersed as he brighten up upon Yuuri's suggestion of them going on a sight-seeing date in Saga City.

"Hm..m…that I'll have to check. I'll let you know tomorrow whether a visit to my high school is possible. For now, let's do a check on the places of interest in Saga city first – we can decide where to visit on the day itself." Yuuri responded then, and after a quick glance around their surrounding lean forward and pressed a quick kiss on Viktor's forehead before making a move to leave the studio building.

"Oh Yuuri~~~" Viktor allows his heart-shaped grin to form on his lips before tackling Yuuri from behind, nearly causing the Asian to stumble and fell forward.

"Oh my, do be careful. I wouldn't be in time to catch you every-time." Shinomiya Kanade whom was several steps ahead of Yuuri managed to stable Yuuri before he plastered his face to the ground after being tackled by an enthusiastic Viktor.

"Sorry, didn't mean to trouble you. Speaking of, why are you still here? I thought you left the building at least ten minutes ago?" Yuuri asks out of curiosity, while throwing Viktor a glare warningly.

"Yes well… but I got ambushed by some bystanders that mistook me for Haruka. I had to point them the in the right direction before I could excuse myself." Kanade responded with a shrug.

"In short, you stayed behind so you could avoid the mob." Yuuri deadpan before he sighed inwardly at Viktor's apologetic expression. Pulling Viktor as he headed towards the car-park where Kasumi is waiting for them with her borrowed vehicle from her family members, Yuuri offered to give Kanade a lift home.

"Nah… it's okay. You go ahead, I'll just wait for Haruka to come back and fetch me after he finished shaking off his fans. Besides, my father is in the building working – I could always convince him to drive me home if Haruka is unable to turn back and collect me later." Kanade responded, before he send Yuuri off to the car-park.

Yuuri pulled Viktor after him in silence, until they slipped into the backseat of Kasumi's family car. Yuuri took several deep breath to calm his temper before turning towards Viktor and said in a stern-like tone.

"Viktor, I get that you are very excited for our upcoming date but please refrain from acting like Makkachin or Vic-chan. You, unlike them is a human being capable of understanding the consequences of an actions. There is a very good reason one should not tackle another from behind while walking because it could be dangerous to the person being tackled. Do you know what would have happened if Kanade is unable to react in time and stable me on my foot? I would have face-planted myself on the ground, and got hurt from it. Is that what you want?" Yuuri prompted, keeping his face blank and devoid of emotions.

Yuuri has a tendency to avoid lecturing Viktor, because he thinks the man has endured enough from Yakov on regular basis already. To a certain extent, Yurio is right in his assessment that Yuuri tends to let Viktor gets away too easily. However, there are times whereby Yuuri had to take on a stern and firm attitude with Viktor and this is one of such situation. So, Yuuri kept his facial expression blank and devoid of emotions when he lectured the silver-haired Russian on the man's earlier actions of tackling him from behind for a hug.

"…" Viktor shakes his head in response to Yuuri's words, he really regretted his earlier action but he wasn't really thinking just now. Yuuri's kiss on his forehead makes him feel like hugging his beloved, and because Yuuri had taken a few steps ahead – too eager to reach Yuuri, Viktor didn't stop to consider that Yuuri can't see him while back-facing him. He only thought of it when he tackled Yuuri successfully and nearly sending the two of them tumbling forward to the ground.

"Good, make sure you don't make the same mistakes again. For punishment, you shall sleep alone tonight." Yuuri announced and proceeds on to ignore Viktor for the rest of the trip back to Hasetsu, Yu-topia.

When the two of them entered the inn, nearly everyone caught on to the strange vibe between them. Yuuri stalked towards the hot spring immediately upon his return, and a warning look send towards the Russian's direction deters Viktor from following. Dejectedly, Viktor trudged over to where Yurio was lazing about with his PSP device on hand and sat with his arms wrapped around his knees staring at the blond silently.

"… I see that you managed to piss the Katsudon off, whatever did you do to result in that?" Yurio asks eventually after getting creep out by the blank stare Viktor is directing at him.

"Oh Yurio~" Upon the blond's prompt, Viktor Nikiforov found himself summarizing the happenings from before that took place between Yuuri and him dumping it all on the fifteen year old, seeking advises on how to gain his beloved's forgiveness.

Yurio stared, rolls his eyes for a second before turning back to the older Russian with a blank stare as he said flatly. "Are you seriously asking me for advice?"

Viktor nodded, desperation clear on his face. Yurio muttered something incoherently before taking a deep breath and said to Viktor.

"My recommendation is do not bother him for the rest of tonight. Give him time to cool off, knowing the Katsudon – he wasn't one to hold grudges. Besides he already said – barring you from his room tonight is punishment enough. I assume things would be back to normal tomorrow, so just stay away from him for the rest of today. That, and I recommend you to apologize to him formally tomorrow morning. That should be good enough."

When the next day comes around, Yuuri opened his room door and was about to head for the bathroom to freshen up when he found his mouth twitching at the sight that met his eyes. Viktor was kneeling with head sticking to the tatami mats of his home, with words of apology directed towards him as soon as he slides the door open.

"…" Yuuri sweat-dropped at the sight, and found himself taking a trip down his memory lane to the earlier time-line when he was the one apologizing to Viktor for being late to practice after avoiding the man for the entire day before.

"A simply sorry and a promise that you won't make the same mistake again would do in your case, there's no need for a dogeza." Yuuri sighed and said eventually, as he pulled Viktor back up on the feet.

"Yurio said it's best if I apologized to you formally. So…" Viktor responded, still staring at Yuuri earnestly with the most apologetic expression in his arsenal.

"Oh… alright, go on to the dining area without me. I will join you in there after I freshen up, and we can go for a walk after breakfast before Kasumi came by to pick me up." Yuuri said, directing a small smile towards Viktor's direction – just to assure the man he's no longer upset by yesterday's occurrence.

In the bathroom, Yuuri thought about the conversation he was going to have with Viktor during their walk later and about how he is going to confess his relationship with Viktor to his parents'. First things first, there are a few things Yuuri need to get across to Viktor – among them Viktor's habit of getting touchy in public and of course, Viktor's tendency to act on impulse without thinking through the consequences.

~ to be continued~

Date completed: 1/5/17


End file.
